EMERGE FESTIVAL – GROUP ART EXHIBITION MAY 18-JUNE 16 GALLERY CACHET
Choose from a selection of 8″ x 8″ prints – final matted size is 10.5″ x 10.5″ $85.00 each. All come with a certificate of authenticity. 
The Qingming or Ching Ming Festival, also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English, is a traditional Chinese festival on the first day of the fifth solar term of the traditional Chinese luni solar calendar. This makes it the 15th day after the Spring Equinox, either 4 or 5 April in a given year. The Lee Association kindly gave me permission to photograph the day which included ceremonies in the Chinese section of Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetary and in the Lee Association Clan House. This was followed by a banquet at a restaurant. “The word “clan” has been used in the past to translate two Chinese words: zu and zong. Zu is narrower in meaning and refers to a family with unilineal descent and institutions such as ancestral halls, graveyards, and lands. Two or more zu with the same surname and linked by common, distant ancestor belong to the same zong. Overseas Chinese who shared the same surname – although not directly related – assumed that they may have had a common, remote ancestor, and that in the broad sense of the word (zong), they were clansmen to each other. The majority of Chinese immigrants in Canada belonged to a few large clans and shared a small pool of surnames. Clansmen formed clan and native-place (district) associations or huiguan, which flourished in early Chinatowns across Canada. These associations were based on models which the migrants were familiar with from China, and provided social services as well as opportunities to express cultural traditions. The associations also attempted to protect their members and negotiate on their behalf against discrimination and other problems. Chinese immigrants paid dues to their clan associations, and their counterpart clan associations, back in China, were notified that the dues had been paid.” Terms and Explanation Courtesy of Vancouver Public Library
These images are part of Chinatown R-Evolution a photographic project on Vancouver’s Chinatown – This project received assistance from: Vancouver Foundation DTES Small Arts Grant & Historical Chinatown Tours
– Tallulah
The Chinese Tea Shop is located on the corner of Columbia & Pender Street, in the heart of Vancouver’s Chinatown. The shop sells very high quality teas, all sourced, tasted and approved by owner and tea master: Daniel Lui. If you want to taste tea before you buy it Daniel, prepares “Gong-fu Cha,” a ceremonial method of brewing and bringing out the flavours of the tea. On my last visit, Daniel started by choosing a 2003 pu-reh (tea cake) to brew. A special knife is used to break the cake into small fragrant fragments, which will be brewed in a gentle manner which allows time for conversation. Arranging a specially chosen 200- year-old YIXING clay teapot, cups, tongs, and a strainer on a porous bamboo mat placed upon a wooden tray, the tea pot and cups are seasoned with hot water. The first cup of tea of many cups of tea is ready to be drunk. Slurping is the best way to taste all the flavours of the tea and that manner is also effective in cooling the hot liquid.
Thank you to Mr Daniel Lui for his participation in this project.
These images are part of Chinatown R-Evolution a photographic project on Vancouver’s Chinatown – This project received assistance from: Vancouver Foundation DTES Small Arts Grant & Historical Chinatown Tours
– Tallulah
The heart sutra is written on this 200-year-old YIXING clay teapot.
Vancouver Foundation – DTES Small Arts Grants Group Show
Group Show Curator: Jen Castro
GROUP SHOW June 8 – July 14, 2017 Interurban Gallery 1 East Hastings (@Carrall) The land which this exhibition is being held is the Unceded Coast Salish Territories of the Musqueam, Tsleil-Wauthuth and Squamish peoples.
Chinatown R-Evolution – Cut-ups
The cut-up technique, called découpé in French, is a literary system in which text is cut up and rearranged to create a new piece of prose. This concept, which can be traced to the Dadaist artists of the 1920s, was popularized in the 1950s and early 1960s by American writer and artist William S. Burroughs. The Cut-ups series takes random images from one country or project, then reassembles them into a final piece of artwork. These pieces give the viewer poetic insight into remote, exotic and mysterious worlds and cultures.
REFLECTIONS Photographic C Print 24″ x 18″ – Unframed $300, Framed $400
These images are part of Chinatown R-Evolution a photographic project on Vancouver’s Chinatown – This project received assistance from: Vancouver Foundation DTES Small Arts Grant & Historical Chinatown Tours
– Tallulah
Modernize Tailors was opened in 1913 by Wong Kung Lai. His sons Bill and Jack Wong took over the business and kept it going decades after other Chinatown tailors closed. The two brothers became Chinatown legends when, in the 1940’s, they were the go-to tailors for zoot suits – a man’s suit of an exaggerated style, characterized by a long loose jacket with padded shoulders and high-waisted tapering trousers, made popular in the 1940s and increasingly desired by Vancouver’s teenagers. I wonder when the last custom order for a zoot suit was? Over the years international film stars such as the dapper Sean Connery, local and loyal patrons frequented Modernize Tailors.
I had the chance to photograph Bill working at Modernize Tailors earlier this year and a quick peek into a storeroom full of vintage fabrics.
These images are part of Chinatown R-Evolution a photographic project on Vancouver’s Chinatown – This project received assistance from: Vancouver Foundation DTES Small Arts Grant & Historical Chinatown Tours
– Tallulah
Sadly, both Jack (89) 2013 and Bill Wong (95) 2017 have passed away.
January 29th 2017 (Sunday)
Vancouver’s Chinatown Chinese New Year this year celebrated The Year of the Rooster, its 44th Spring Festival. The Chinese New Year Banquet Gala was held at Floata Seafood Restaurant in Chinatown, with over ten courses of food as well as featuring lion dances, ‘good luck’ greetings by the Fortune God and a Chinese variety show with singing and cultural dances.
These images are part of Chinatown R-Evolution a photographic project on Vancouver’s Chinatown – This project received assistance from: Vancouver Foundation DTES Small Arts Grant
– Tallulah
The Passion of Harold
For my long-term photo project, The World People Project, I am often aware of individuals who would be great to illustrate, but who are understandably hesitant about taking part. However, in my experience, these are the very people worth taking the time to patiently get to know, because they are often the most fascinating.
Harold and I, for instance, crossed paths in the inner folds of a group of dedicated collectors of vintage clothing, covering antique clothes of historical importance, an internationally-renowned corset collection and the more modern and ephemeral world of glitz and glamour. Harold’s remarkable collection of mannequins, clothes, shoes and accessories is a lifetime in the making and it was a privilege to be given the opportunity to visit with him recently and share a brief glimpse into a passion that is greater than our obsession with iThings, drones, and WiFi speeds.
– Tallulah
Journeys to the Edge – Cut-ups
The cut-up technique, called découpé in French, is a literary system in which text is cut up and rearranged to create a new piece of prose. This concept, which can be traced to the Dadaist artists of the 1920s, was popularized in the 1950s and early 1960s by American writer and artist William S. Burroughs. The Journeys to the Edge – Cut-ups series takes random images from one country, then reassembles them into a final piece of artwork. These pieces give the viewer poetic insight into remote, exotic and mysterious worlds and cultures.
Afghanistan – Flowers & Man 30″ x 16″ Archival digital print
Colombia – My Footsteps will always Fall 30′ x 16″ Archival digital print
Haiti – Ancestors Rise Erect 33″ x 14″ Archival digital print
ARTIST STATEMENT Journeys to the Edge – an exhibition of photography
An understated aspect of photography is that every portrait reveals not only a fundamental view of the subject in the photograph but also a glimpse of the visions, perceptions, beliefs and emotions of the photographer. As a resident of the Downtown Eastside in Vancouver, it is important for me as a photographer to participate in the community I reside in. Thus I conceived the idea of taking portraits of the individuals who are part of the Oppenheimer Park community. The portraits are taken in a studio setting with the subjects against a blank white background. This isolates them from the context of their real world and emphasizes their own uniqueness. This exhibition displays these portraits as well as reportage portraiture of people from places as diverse as Colombia, El Salvador, Haiti, Afghanistan and Soweto in South Africa. I conceived the idea of a “travelling” exhibition that would showcase the work of Journeys to the Edge from remote places — either in distance or culturally — from what is perceived as typical art environments. Journeys to the Edge reflects this wide diversity of cultures and shows lives and stories not captured by mainstream media.
