Photo Circle Event - Presentation by Surendra Lawoti.

Surendra Lawoti was born in 1972 in Panchthar, Nepal. He is currently based in Toronto, Ontario, where he teaches Photography as an Adjunct Faculty at Ontario College of Art and Design. He received his BA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (1999) and MFA in Photography from Massachusetts College of Art and Design (2005) in Boston. He has received grants from Artadia, Somerville Arts Council, Community Arts Assistance Program Grant through City of Chicago and Ontario Arts Council. His work has been exhibited widely in Chicago and Boston in the US, in Toronto, in Medellin, Colombia and in Kathmandu, Nepal.

Surendra is interested in the dynamics of social class, race, gender, religion and sexuality and how that affects individuals and social groups in a given historical time frame. For his current work Don River, he has been photographing the landscape of Lower Don River Valley in Toronto, its residents and its recreational users. The work deals with the inglorious history of Lower Don, homelessness, socioeconomic disparities and effects on urbanization on the river.

Along with Don River, Surendra will show work that depicts the Nepali Diaspora that he made while he was in the United States. He will also share his personal experiences of studying, teaching and working in the field of photography.