Shoot & Tell: Alex Ramadan's "Underground"

Alex Ramadan

I have a fascination with subways.
They’re man-made landscapes. They are true public space where different ages, cultures, lifestyles and classes cross paths. Since this place is a  thoroughfare, within minutes it can go from the downtown push and press to a ghost town. These photos highlight both the bustle and the solitude to which the subway plays host. They reflect loneliness though they are filled with people.
As a true public space, the subway is indiscriminate as to who can enter, unlike the roads above it. It’s dirty. Rich brush past the poor, students lounge beside Bay St. brokers and kids plug in their iPods as the elderly turn down their hearing aids. It’s dirty. It’s a microcosm of Canada’s diversity, and yet, with all these people in the same space, there is little interaction. It is full of those on autopilot who are just trying to get from one place to the next.