I began to incorporate material works made by other artists into my work in 1978. The first works that I brought into my own work were by amateur artists within my own family. Beginning in 1981, I began to make work that included works by other artists that I knew. I saw this process as a form of a social mapping of the Toronto art community at the time.

These artists agreed to give up control of their work and allowed me to use it in anyway I wanted within the context of a new work. Their work became another physical element in the list of materials that made up my work. I did not consider this process to be a collaboration.