Train Wreck near Whistler, British Columbia occurred in mid nineteen-fifties. Local logging equipment dragged the destroyed boxcars off into the surrounding clearcut.
Sixty years of healing.
The forest has regrown around the wrecks. They became the canvas for local graffiti artists, with numerous coats of new paintings. Hikers and bikers come to the site for respite from the rigours of the local mountain trails.
Prompting one visitor to pen:
this is my church
this is where i heal my hurts
Surrounded by water, the City of Vancouver lacks space on the ground to grow. One type of building giving itself over to the trend to go higher is the above ground parking lot. These portraits serve to preserve them before they are lost.
Images from the Vancouver Art Gallery hosting of collections by Guo Pei.
Shapes and textures are fascinating to me; they are particularly more so in decaying structures where the uniformity and smoothness of modern materials has weathered away.
But recording these, often reinforces the decaying aspect of the structures. The viewer considers the image in the light of this dismal state and thus is left thinking negative thoughts. It is my intention to leave the viewer with a positive impression. With thinking that having the texture that comes with aging is a good thing, and should stay around for awhile.
The shapes in these images have differing visual weight and proportion. Where texture exists on a wall, the texture’s shape is defined by the edges of the frame.
I strive to portray the shapes in balance with one another. This sense of balance then elevates the image away from the negative aspect of decay.
