Installation, mixed media, 2008
March 8 to April 5

In my neighbourhood, two "cash stores" have opened within the last month. Around Toronto's "have not" neighbourhoods, payday lenders are popping up like mushrooms. Why? Because they make a lot of money by doing very little and with very little risk. They take advantage of those of us who have too little money, who are struggling to make ends meet. First you take out a loan to get you to the next paycheck, then you take out another to pay off the first one. Soon, your paychecks are paying the payday lender and there's nothing left.

It's debatable really whether making an artwork about a difficult problem like payday lending does any good whatsoever. But when you see cash stores popping up where you live, it makes you start wondering what's going on. Why are there no banks nearby anymore? Who owns these businesses and what do they want?

Postscript: During the exhibition the Ontario government introduced legislation to regulate payday lending, following regulation in Quebec, Manitoba and other Canadian provinces. Advocates are lobbying that these regulations create a cap of 35% on annualized interest rates and fees for short term loans with strict limits on roll-overs.

"a timely, smart and coolly finessed installation"
— Peter Goddard in the Toronto Star:

Read more about payday lenders on Wikipedia

convenience is a window gallery that provides an opening for art that engages, experiments, and takes risks with the architectural, urban, and civic realm.