Interest in flâneurism within the practice of street photography is resurging but the concept remains problematic for its white male-centred gaze on urbanity. In this new exhibition-in-the-making, renowned artist and Guggenheim Fellow Zun Lee revisits his own street photography practice to depart from the usual focus on wandering.

Lee proposes lingering and loitering as reclamation strategies to subvert the way modern technocultural urban spaces regulate wayward bodies. Rather than moving/observing, street photography can be reframed as an active way of destabilizing the urban environement and its sociality, producing alternate ways of understanding and reshaping our world, for bodies behind and in front of the camera.

Zun Lee is a multi-hyphenate artist, physician, and educator, born and raised in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, and currently living in Toronto, Canada. Lee has been an independent photographer since 2014 and has exhibited, spoken, and taught at numerous institutions in North America and Europe. His works are widely published and represented in public and private collections around the world. Honours and awards include: Mellon Foundation Practitioner in Residence, Knight Foundation Grantee, Magnum Foundation Fellow, Paris Photo/Aperture Photobook Awards Shortlist, Photo District News’ 30 New and Emerging Photographers to Watch. Visit the exhibition at the Goethe-Institut Toronto between 3 May – 29 May on Wednesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays 11am-5pm (or by request).

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