How to Build a River

How to Build a River, through photographs and incisive, contextualizing essays, ventures behind the construction hoardings of the Port Lands Flood Protection project to reveal the transformation of hundreds of acres of polluted brownfields into a new public park, a new river and a site for future housing.Awarded to photographers Vid Ingelevics and Ryan Walker in 2019, the commission resulted in an illuminating series of photographs that explore key themes and historical contexts of this legacy-building endeavour. Central to this project was the construction of a new wider, naturalized mouth for the Don River as well as a new public park on this former brownfield site. Additionally, the photographs explore the necessary demolition of many existing industrial buildings, the involvement of First Nations, the excavation of the new river valley and the complex bio-engineering techniques involved, archeological discoveries during the excavation, the re-naturalization of the site and, most recently, the opening of a significant section of Biidaasige Park to the public in July 2025. The photographs and accompanying essays invite readers to look closely at how cities can be reimagined in response to a changing climate. They reveal the social, historical, and environmental stories behind this landmark transformation of Toronto’s waterfront and contemplate the importance of documenting publicly funded projects of this scale.