The Continuous Still series were produced as part of a commission from CONTACT Photography Festival in Toronto. Manchot worked with the Distillery’s rich and varied photographic archive to create a new series of images, each one displayed alongside the historic photograph it refers to. Taking its title from an image in the archive, The Continuous Still presents portraits of large and smaller groups (e.g., the Distillery’s staff or management, in the past and present day) and an iconic bird’s-eye view of the site. By creating a series of portraits of the Distillery’s working population, the artist investigates processes of identification in relation to labour, location, and community. When presented in combination with their archival precedents, the images examine the politics of regeneration and its effects on communities.
