THE SPECIAL
Like any city, Vancouver has its myths and clichés. Being a lifelong resident of the Lower Mainland, these are as common to me as the north shore mountains, or #1 Highway. As a digital photo artist, the ability to extract and recompose elements allows me to explore these ideas. So while every subject in these images can be found within the Greater Vancouver area (unless they’ve already become victims of the city’s ever-reconstructing nature), none will be found in the context in which you see them here.
As such, The Special is not at all about the strict documentation of the city, but rather presents a crafted idea of it as it exists in our thoughts and memories. The flattened perspective of the buildings suggests reducing those structures to symbols, as a child would draw a house by placing a triangle atop a square, yet they maintain photorealism. The assembly of the pieces is done with the intention of creating a series of hyperreal, yet nostalgic little worlds, each of them distinctly and recognizably Vancouver.
