Ritual

Vincenzo Pietropaolo, Don Snyder, Maia-Mari Sutnik

Italian-born, Canadian-based documentary photographer Vincenzo Pietropaolo has made it his life's mission to photograph the immigrant experience, working class culture and social justice issues. Considered one of Canada s pre-eminent documentary photographers, his work is distinguished for the sense of dignity and empathy toward his subjects. In 'Ritual', he brings together a retrospective collection of 150 photographs spanning 46 years. The book is an historic documentation, unparalleled in scope, of the Good Friday processionan elaborate event that takes place annually in the streets of Toronto s Little Italy, the largest Italian immigrant community in the world. Consisting of multiple re-enactments with live actors and statues of Biblical "tableaux vivants" that depict the Via Crucis (Way of the Cross), the event is the emotional high point of the community. Pietropaolo has...