Lost Rivers is a small group of citizen geographers, researching and mapping long-buried creeks. Newer related projects are Rivers Rising and RAINscapeTO, both social enterprises that connect people to neighbourhood greening projects and eco-gardening job opportunities.
John Wilson (born in Youngstown, OH, USA; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) is an independent community engagement specialist and waterfront advocate. Wilson leads public walks with the Lost Rivers project, a collaboration of the Toronto Green Community and Toronto Field Naturalists, and serves as co-chair of the West Don Lands Committee. From 2000 to 2011, Wilson served as chair of the Task Force to Bring Back the Don, a citizens’ advisory committee of Toronto City Council with a mandate to restore a clean, green, accessible Don River.
Ali S. Qadeer (born in Kingston, ON, Canada; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) is a designer and educator based in Toronto. His work focuses on algorithmic form making, unorthodox toolmaking, and the disciplinary and economic structures that design practices buttress.
Chris Lee (born in Toronto, ON, Canada; lives in Brooklyn, NY, USA) is a graphic designer and educator. He graduated from OCAD University, Toronto and the Sandberg Instituut, Amsterdam, and has worked for The Walrus, Metahaven, and Bruce Mau Design. He was the designer and an editorial board member of the journal Scapegoat: Architecture /Landscape /Political Economy. His research explores graphic design’s entanglement with power and standardization, particularly through the genre of the document.
Haruko Okano (born in Toronto, ON, Canada; lives in Vancouver, BC, Canada) is a third generation Japanese-Canadian who was raised through the Toronto-based Children’s Aid Society, aging out of care at 18. She is involved in environmental activism and human rights focused on Indigenous, Black, and people of colour antiracism. As an interdisciplinary artist, her practice is process-based, integrating her priorities of deep community engagement/peer collaborations, ecological sustainability, and decolonization methodologies.
Diane Borsato was born in Toronto where she is an artist, naturalist, and Associate Professor of Experimental Studio at the University of Guelph. She has exhibited and performed her work in major galleries and museums across Canada and internationally. For over ten years she has been collaborating with writer and curator Amish Morrell on Outdoor School, an ongoing series of contemporary environmental artworks. Their new book Outdoor School is available at booksellers now. www.dianeborsato.net
Caitlin Taguibao was born in Toronto where she is a gardener, illustrator, and mural painter. She enjoys being outside and working with her hands and has spent time working in urban gardens and organic farms. Using bright colours, her murals aim to provide warm, inviting moments to appreciate the beauty of nature. Her work is inspired by plant lore and personal stories, exploring moments of self-reflection and growth. She has worked with other artists both locally and internationally, and held her first solo exhibition Leaves and Remains at KRACK!
Setayesh Babaei is an Iranian-Canadian artist and designer based in Toronto. During her undergraduate studies at OCAD University in the Environmental Design program, she dedicated her work to the realization of the buried rivers in Toronto and their transformation due to urbanization from waterways to underground sewage systems. Her project explores the history as well as the future of the city’s hydrological system; from the greenbelt to rivers, the “Veins” of our city.
Helen Mills (born in Johannesburg, South Africa; lives in Toronto, ON, Canada) is the founder of Lost Rivers, a project of the Toronto Green Community. When she came to Toronto, she noticed a sunken park near her house. Years later she learned that it was a remnant ravine and home to lost Mud Creek. Mesmerized, she wanted to paint blue lines on the street and over buildings, to name the creeks and bring them back to the surface of our awareness.