HEADQUARTERS photography exhibit to debut at Bay Station, spotlighting the TTC’s head office

Beginning tomorrow, May 1, customers passing through Bay Station will have the chance to see a less familiar side of the TTC. From wood-panelled offices, to linoleum corridors, to pink-tiled bathrooms – a new photography exhibit by artist Leala Hewak offers a behind-the-scenes look at TTC head office’s original modernist features.

The exhibition, called HEADQUARTERS, is a part of CONTACT Photography Festival and will be on display at the Bay Station concourse level throughout the month of May.

“The TTC is always looking for new partnership opportunities and ways to enhance the customer experience. This collaboration with Leala Hewak and CONTACT Photography Festival is just one of the ways we’re doing that,” said TTC Chief Strategy and Customer Experience Officer, Josh Colle. “We know our customers love a behind-the-scenes look and what better way to view our space than through the lens of an artist. We thank Leala for her great passion for capturing the essence of our work space and preserving the TTC's legacy.”

The TTC’s head office, the McBrien Building, opened in 1958 and was named in honour of former TTC Chairman William C. McBrien, a key proponent of Canada’s first subway, the original Yonge line.

“Photographing the McBrien Building was an intensely satisfying experience, and not just because of its original mid-century features. With my husband Don Hewak acting as “intermediary”, HEADQUARTERS affords the viewer access to a seemingly mundane realm which is in fact transcendent,” said artist Leala Hewak.

HEADQUARTERS images feature a Mad Men-era executive, the eternal “Chairman”, a ghostly stand-in for the ubiquitous bureaucrat who wanders halls, commands boardrooms, inspects bowels of the McBrien Building, along with other individuals who portray a time when working in the office was the daily norm.

Leala Hewak is a Toronto-based artist working primarily in photography and video. Her practice often explores relationships between people and their built environments, particularly Modernist and Brutalist buildings. She has participated in more than 20 solo and group national and international exhibitions and published multiple artists' books.

For more information about the artist and the exhibit, visit ttc.ca/CONTACT.