PASI

Community Projects/

Photo Exhibits/

PASI

PASI

Summer 2026

Unveiled on Friday, May 8, 2026

On display from May to July 2026

Produced by JAMII

Artistic Director: Isorine Marc

Co-Artistic Directors: Laura Dittmann, Jae Yang

Photographers: Laura Dittmann, Jae Yang, Gillian Mapp, Abel Tesfaldet, Ana Higuera Figo, Murphy Owusu, André Daley-Wiltshire

Graphic Designer: Iris Unlu

Project Team: Isorine Marc, Iris Unlu, Yusra Yacout, Claudia Bonilla,

Usama Mohamednur

Printing Partner: Seven Point Five

Funder: The City of Toronto’s Community Celebration Support Fund

JAMII STATEMENT:

The Esplanade community is so special, and PASI is yet another project that proves it. To celebrate the World in the City theme of the 2026 world soccer tournament in Toronto this June and July, at Jamii we dreamed up a project that would reflect one of the city’s greatest strengths: its diversity. We set out to create a photo exhibition featuring people from all 48 countries participating in the tournament, all living locally, while pushing ourselves into new artistic territory.

So off we went. In January 2026, we started putting the call out in our community for people from Ghana, England, Uzbekistan, Korea Republic and beyond. People showed up, one by one, sometimes as families or groups of friends, stepping in front of the camera, proudly holding their flags, standing tall and rooting for their teams to shine this summer.

The title of the exhibit is PASI, a Swahili word for a soccer pass. You will notice the soccer ball in most of the photos. Each participant wrote their country name on it, and from East to West, it slowly filled up with all 48 names. It became its own kind of artwork.

This project is also a quiet hymn to memory, to what David Crombie Park was just before its revitalization began. We took these photos only days before the first shovels went into the ground. The timing feels rare, almost suspended, capturing a place in that in between moment, just as it was and just before it changed.

A special thank you to the 86 people of all ages, from 6 months to 90 years old, who said yes to our playful and sometimes unexpected photoshoots, some even happening during January snowstorms. There is something deeply moving in holding a moment like this, a portrait that sits outside of time and quietly speaks across life and loss.

To Henry.

Let’s play together. May the best team win.

PARTICIPANTS:

In order of appearance from Parliament St to Lower Jarvis St.

Molly and Susana (Spain);

Jeremy, Julien and Juliette (Belgium);

Linda, Henry, Melanie and Charlotte (Germany);

Camila (Brazil);

Alice and Asha (England);

Kseniya (Uzbekistan);

Claudia and Adriana (Mexico);

Jasmin and Sade (Netherlands);