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Tyee Photo Essay

Incidental Geography

By Mark Mushet, 6 Dec 2007, TheTyee.ca

  • Woodward's (2006)

    Woodward's (2006)

    An ugly monolithic block that was/is oddly revered and romanticized. A rallying point for poverty protests, it inevitably came down in another sad fit of façadist faux-preservation. Now it's a condo speculator's wet dream that at least affords SFU a formidable downtown presence. My first full time job was there in 1981, punch clock and all.

  • Kitsilano Arson (2002)

    Kitsilano Arson (2002)

    Nothing brings people together like the warmth and light of a nice fire. In 2002, my block was hit by one of the worst residential arson strikes in recent memory; eight garages, four cars and the back of one house. Wooof! Up in flames. As my neighbours held their children by firelight, I knew we'd finally have a Blockwatch.

  • Print Futures (2006)

    Print Futures (2006)

    Paper recycling is big business. These are Metro Vancouver area phone directories shredded, baled and awaiting a new life as newsprint for U.S. newspapers. I like the fact that the personal names addresses and businesses of Vancouver's citizens are being repurposed for Americans to print their content on.

  • Woolner's (2004)

    Woolner's (2004)

    This feels like an archeological "dig" of sorts, a moment provided by a new condo development project. The foreman advised against buying into it as he knew the construction standards were shoddy. Nice. I guess we'll be seeing this old sign again sooner than many might hope. And that brings us to . . .

  • Catastrophic Collective Failure: Shrouded

    Catastrophic Collective Failure: Shrouded

    In 1998, I stayed in a Berlin Weimar-era social housing block that had survived World War II bombs. As I admired the quality of construction and design our host was aghast. Surely buildings were better in North America. I tried to explain the "leaky condo crisis" in B.C. We settled on describing it as a catastrophic collective failure of the people.

  • Who Needs Art?

    Who Needs Art?

    I was driving north along Pacific Avenue when I came across a billboard promoting a new tower. "WHO NEEDS ART?" it shouted over a dusky stock shot of False Creek without a hint of irony. It initially felt like a "Fuck you!" to Vancouver's creative community and I was appalled it hadn't been vandalized yet. So do I photograph it so that the obvious vulgarity may find a future audience? Or should we just stop wasting our time and just carry on with our orgy of consumer nest-feathering.

  • Parallel Lines (2005)

    Parallel Lines (2005)

    The Arbutus rail line. I love the oddly rural feeling along this tenuous holdout that runs through prime real estate from the south foot of the Burrard Bridge through Kits, Kerrisdale, Marpole and finally towards the great beyond of Richmond. NIMBY-ism aside, this is a cherished feature of the west side.

  • Shrouded Fast Ferry (2000)

    Shrouded Fast Ferry (2000)

    One in a tradition of B.C, Boondoggles, the fast ferry debacle will seem small potatoes next to the looming 2010 Olympic debt load (or possibly the combined cost overruns of the convention centre and RAV Line). But it did provide for a Christo-like piece of temporary public art.

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