Christian Malong

In Our Own Backyards

A wildlife documentarian project set in Toronto, seeking to educate viewers about the nature present in our urban environment.

“We often think of wildlife as something that happens far away—in murky swamps, or humid jungles, or in the darkest depths of the ocean. We take for granted that nature doesn’t exist in our everyday world of traffic, glass, and concrete.But nature isn’t something completely divorced from our lives. Nature is all around us, if we have the eyes to see it. Toronto has a great number of parks and ravines for wildlife to inhabit. There’s the entire Don River, and High Park, and there are places like the Evergreen Brickworks that were reclaimed and designed specifically for wildlife.Even excluding that, nature creeps into places we might not expect. Coyotes inhabit our cemeteries. There are mice on the train tracks. I saw a skunk one morning just strolling down the sidewalk. The environment of a city isn’t separate from nature, it’s an active part of it.For this project, I wanted to document some of the wildlife living in Toronto: the pigeons in apartment complexes, the deer in the parks, the coyotes in the cemetery, and whatever else I encounter. The hope is that I might educate the viewers and expose them to some of the creatures that live right in their own backyard.”

In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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In Our Own Backyards

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