A brand new banner exhibit at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA) in Brampton is showcasing a unique look at one of rural Ontario’s most interesting sights.
Taken by renowned Toronto artist Risa Horowitz, the photo centres on the Alton Mill Dam in west Caledon, the concrete dam where Shaw’s Creek was engineered to drive what became the longest-running water-powered mill on the Upper Credit River system.
The photo isn’t just a visual treat because of the historical beauty it depicts. It was also taken with a handmade pinhole camera: a simple camera without a lens, instead having a tiny hole that light passes through to create an inverted and reversed projection of the view that it captured (known as the “camera obscura” effect).
Horowitz, a featured artist at the CONTACT Photography Festival, says she made her first pinhole camera in 2016 to photograph the north Toronto ravines she had grown up in; as a withdrawn teenager, the ravines served as solitary getaways for her.
Nine years later in August 2025, she woke up with the urge to make another pinhole camera, on the same day that she would take a trip with her mom to visit the historic Alton Mill Arts Centre overlooking Shaw’s Creek.
“I clambered over rocks to place the pinhole camera at the water’s edge, below the dam. The exposure was roughly four minutes—just long enough to create a softness in the photograph of the cascading water,” she said.
As she watched the water, she thought about the time period when the centre and the dam were built, in 1881, and how it coincided with advancements in early photographic technology. She also felt nostalgic about the intersections of southern Ontario land and waterways, where she used to play with friends and family during her childhood.
“This photograph is an expression of care for, and responsibility towards, the people and places I love. It also presents the opportunity to consider, critically, the ills of human invention and settlement that have so dramatically impacted this environment and its peoples.”
Now being displayed at PAMA, the photo will have visitors reflecting on how industry, settlement, and river ecology intersect within Ontario’s Greenbelt.
During PAMA’s spring open house, a free event held on May 30, Horowitz will be on scene to talk about her photo as it’s displayed on the art gallery’s large outdoor banners, among other events.
Stop by Brampton’s premier art gallery for a look at this unique new banner exhibit, created in partnership with CONTACT Photography Festival happening in May, and curated by Michelle Gewurtz.
Based in Saskatchewan, Horowitz is a renowned artist whose works have been exhibited widely across Canada and internationally, and her works are held in numerous public and private collections. Her paintings and photographs are on permanent display at Canadian Embassies around the world.
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