Sean McHale

UTOPIAN BINOCULARS
It is easy from afar to buy into the idea of a place and its branding—where grass is greener and whatever else goes unnoticed till closer inspection. Much like the difference between living somewhere and being a tourist.

When viewing Canada at a distance I managed a two-dimensional view at best. Wild, bountiful. Metropolises and peoples ignored alike. Such simplicity is quickly dispelled by reality.

Shortly after I arrived here, in late 2020, multiple new scandals over residential schools broke across the media; and so a re-imagining began. Information on the nation state's formation is easily found online, of course. For me it took coming here to get the utopian binoculars off my chest. This photo series muses on material culture within settler society.