This photo was taken outside the Hotel Shangri-la Vancouver in front of Ken Lum’s Exhibit: from shangri-la to shangri-la, January 22 – September 6, 2010, a work for Vancouver Art Gallery Offsite. Mr. Lum’s exhibit (not shown in this photo) consists of 3 small replicas of squatters’ shacks which existed between the 40’s and 70’s at the Maple Mudflats on the shoreline of North Vancouver. They were occupied by writers and artists including Malcolm Lowry. The exhibit dramatically contrasts today’s and yesterday’s concepts of ideal life and architecture.

In Mr. Bouvier’s photo we see the water which is part of the foreground of the exhibit on Georgia Street. Here is reflected the people, buildings and bustle of Vancouver today. Georgia Street is also a connecting roadway to North Vancouver and the past location which the exhibit represents. However, in this photo we see no one looking in the direction of the exhibit but only caught up in their own lives and reflections. Just a little nod in the right direction by the passers-by could evoke a connection with our past and our present which Ken Lum so admirably presents.