Last Friday I went to see the Fred Herzog exhibition at Equinox Project Space. Fred Herzog captured Vancouver street scenes in colour photography starting from the 1950s and continued for about 50 years. The exhibition consists of a great number of his works and gives you a really good picture of what Vancouver used to look like.
Vancouver had a lot of wonderful architecture, signage, neighbourhoods, ect. “Had” I say because when you see his work you realize how much we’ve wiped out. At some point, Vancouver’s development seems to have been dictated by developers. Old, character buildings have been replaced by tall glass and concrete structures. The skyline consists of shades of gray.
Many memories are lost with the replacement of buildings and re-development of neighbourhoods. Europe has retained it’s history and is proud of it. Vancouver seemed and still seems to be intent in wiping out any sense of history. I went to see the exhibit with my neighbour who is from here and grew up here. She said that today’s Vancouver is not the Vancouver she grew up in. When she goes downtown on Granville Street she feels she does not fit in anymore.
This is a wonderful exhibition to check out and I dare say, sad too.
