Double Exposure

Photo: of an art installation called Double Exposure
Marine Drive

Double Exposure

By Samson Tam

Between the recent decline and decay of Vancouver’s Historic Chinatown and the newly growing demographics of Chinese in the city of Richmond, Double Exposure questions what is to become of everything caught in-between? After the 1990s wave of new Asian awareness between the work of Paul Wong and the local art scene to the art market in China, there remains for those living in Canada a constant discrepancy in identity. Particularly for a new generation of Chinese (native and non-native), past is often overlooked favouring for the fashionably new. Playing upon the notion of the photographic exposure, what becomes caught is the figure amongst the Chinatown cityscape. Situated originally as a performance, the longing for a past is one marked between what is genuine and what is purely kitsch. Double Exposure attempts to foster discussion about the complications associated to sites, such as Chinatown, where dialogue with culture, heritage and its people remain vitally important.