Yuri Dojc

North Is Freedom's first exhibition was held in 2016 at the Canadian Embassy in Washington D.C. under sponsorship of TD Bank, Epson Canada, as well as the Government of Canada. The show remained there before moving to the American Embassy in Ottawa, ON and then the Grey Roots Museum in 2017. Dojc was also invited to Uncle Tom's Cabin site in Dresden, ON to lecture on the project.

In 2005, Last Folio expanded from an image based project to include a short documentary film as well. When Dojc met Katya Krausova, a Slovak producer and filmmaker, they formed a partnership and produced a 20-minute documentary about the project. Dojc and Krausova worked tirelessly with a film crew, filming in the small town of Bardejov.

Man Ray was one of Dojc's primary inspirations when approaching his nude studies. Dojc's nude studies were on the classical side, with experimental elements of surrealism and collage. Parallel to advertising work during university, Dojc worked towards creating his first collection of nudes that would eventually become his first published book, Marble Woman. Marble Woman, was published by Firefly Books in 1993.

During and after his schooling, Dojc's early photographs followed the classic approaches of photography. He explored still life photography, photographing popular subjects such as doors, windows, chairs and flowers before shifting towards human subjects, predominantly women. The 1980s saw the height of the poster business, during which Dojc flourished, experimenting with surrealism in photographs thanks to the introduction of programs such as Adobe Photoshop, allowing him to explore digital collaging techniques. Posters such as Legs, Bicycle and Chair were some of Dojc's most notable works. His photographs also appeared in Joel Schumacher's film, D.C. Cab (1983), as well as in commercial advertisements for companies such as FedEx, Apple, GM, Porsche, Canon, Club Med, and Panasonic, to name a few.

Before graduating in 1975, Dojc became the photo editor of the student weekly EyeOpener, working alongside now National Post journalist Christie Blatchford, CTV reporter Paul Workman, as well as comedian Paul Chato.

He was admitted to Ryerson Polytechnical Institute in 1972, following a serendipitous conversation with the dean at the time. After running into each other on campus, he noticed Dojc's Slovakian accent and took an interest in his background, and subsequently invited him to attend Ryerson as a photography student for Ryerson's Photographic Arts Department.

Dojc now calls Toronto his hometown, where he married his current wife, Eva, in 1971. Together they have two children.

Dojc's first two years in Toronto were spent doing odd jobs before landing an assistant job with Peter Croydon, a British commercial photographer, who was active in Toronto's advertising scene in the 1970s. Dojc spent only two weeks with him, as he found himself weary by the commercial nature of the work despite enjoying Croydon's work. Dojc moved onto being an on-staff photographer at an audiovisual company, Avcov, now dissolved, before moving on to freelance work and ultimately beginning his career as a full-time independent photographer.

Dojc was born in Humenné, eastern Slovakia and spent much of his youth there. His father was a secondary school headmaster, and his mother was a teacher. His family later relocated to Bratislava where Dojc studied mechanical engineering and psychology at Comenius University. In 1968, during a summer exchange program in London, United Kingdom, the Warsaw Pact Invasion of Czechoslovakia swept his hometown and forced Dojc to remain in the UK. On advice from his father, he relocated to Toronto, Canada the following year.

Yuri Dojc (/doy-dge; born May 12, 1946) is a Slovak-Canadian fine arts photographer. Dojc currently resides in Toronto, Canada, with work internationally exhibited in countries such as Brazil, Slovakia, Rwanda as well as across Canada.