WorkSpace Canada Project

The WorkSpace Canada Project is a long-term photo documentary by Martin Weinhold. Since 2006 Weinhold constantly explores the country on his mission to produce a multifaceted portrait of a nation at work. The artistic idea is to capture the relationship between person and workplace in visual narratives. It is a threefold approach, introducing work environment, work activity and the performing person. Closeness and depth in the portraits and a modern image of Canada is what matters most to the project’s author. The ambitious goal is to combine a mosaic of contemporary Canada with a complex inventory of the current western world of work. As of 2020 the collection consists of photographs from all Canadian provinces and one territory. In 2021 the nationwide endeavor shall be completed.
The WorkSpace Canada Project was and is inspired by political theorist Hannah Arendt. In her book The Human Condition she distinguishes between labour, work and action as important elements for the realization of our human capacities. Arendt is discussing the subject of “work” with regard to men’s and women’s limited life time. This is why Martin Weinhold wants to shed light onto the choices people make for their career, as these choices determine how a large portion of the given years will be spent.
The WorkSpace Canada Project is entirely produced on black and white medium format film. Currently approx. 4,000 photographs are available as digital files in high resolution. The project’s main collaborators are Ryerson University (Toronto), Library and Archives Canada and the John-F-Kennedy Institute for North American Studies (Berlin). Subset collections were published and exhibited in Canada and abroad. At present Library and Archives Canada keeps a compilation of 112 original gelatin silver prints.