About
In the ruins of an abandoned steel mill on a cold December Sunday in 2005, six photographers came together to form the DK Photo Group. Russell Brohier, Sean Galbraith, Steve Jacobs, Laurin Jeffrey, Mathew Merrett, and Jay Morrison joined together with the goal of exploring cast-off architectural spaces, and bringing their images to larger audiences. In time, Jay left the group, and the other five members carried on the name and mission.
The DKPG evolved out of a group of photographers with a common passion finding themselves in common circumstances. They all enjoy preserving history with their cameras, as well as sharing the images with the public. Many emails flew back and forth, many ideas were shared. The end results is what you see, photographers working together to find and document these locations, as well as locate the appropriate spaces to display their work.
Though each has their own artistic voice, what binds them together is their common subject matter. Exploring the forgotten, decaying and derelict relics of society, this group photographs and documents those buildings which once stood as bastions of social institutions. Now silent and testament to the history of our social past, they are artifacts left to deteriorate.
We move around your world, gaining access to the forgotten and lonely corners. We go where few know about, where fewer still would dare to venture themselves. We are poets, archeologists, artists, documentarians and anthropologists. We bring the past to light, trying to understand and share it with a new generation. We collect images and try to preserve our own local history. Just because everyone else walks past certain locations without a second thought or glance does not mean that we have to.
This collaboration eventually lead the DKPG to open a gallery in Toronto, galleryDK (now closed) and star in a television series about their exploits in Europe, PhotoXplorers (pX Facebook group).
We welcome you to share our vision, to see what is hidden. And through this, we hope that you can gain a new understanding of the world around you.