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W2 Soul Gardens Public Art Project in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
Soul Gardens Public Art Project
Event Details
Time: July 5, 2011 to September 21, 2011
Location: W2 Media Cafe, DTES locations
Event Type: project, exhibition, workshop
Organized By: W2 Woodwards
Event Description
Soul Gardens is a W2 community public art project that investigates the cultural history of the Downtown Eastside as told through stories of food, gardening and community.
A collaboration between five muralists and five artist researchers, the project draw heavily on individual and shared narratives within founding DTES cultural groups including the Squamish, Tsleil-Waututh, and Musqueam Nations, and African, Chinese, Japanese and European settlers. In addition to a large public mural, Soul Gardens will create a dynamic online interface inviting individuals to share recipes, stories, photos and other information about how food has played a role in shaping their experience of Vancouver.
Muralists: Jordan Bent, Indigo, Scott Sueme, Melanie Shambach, Take5. Researchers: Wayde Compton, Lani Russwurm, Anne Marie Slater, Sid Tan and Cease Wyss. Project Coordinators: Irwin Oostindie, Lianne Payne.
Look here for further event updates on the project as they are announced, including long table dinners, recipe card collections, and public talks and workshops on cultural heritage and community history.
With support from the City of Vancouver’s 125th Anniversary Grants Program and the participation of the Government of Canada. Artwork design: Jordan Ben
AHA MEDIA is very proud to help support the W2 Soul Gardens Public Art Project!
Below are photos from a recent meeting at W2 Media Cafe
HIV Status testing event at Victory Square in Vancouver Downtown Eastside on Sat July 9, Sun July 10, 2011
From What’s Your Status
Together we can radically stop the spread of HIV and AIDS through identifying participants who are positive. The earlier you learn your status and start treatment you significantly lower the risk of transmitting this disease to someone else.
Finding out your HIV status is positive used to be thought of as a death sentence. This is no longer the case because of pioneers in medical research like Dr. Julio Montaner and the BC Center for Excellence in HIV/AIDS who have developed a highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for people living with the disease that can prolong healthy living for a lifetime and reduces the risk of HIV transmission. Along with this ground breaking research, a Point of Care test (similar to a test a diabetic would take) has the ability to screen for the virus in 60 seconds.
We are initiating a HIV testing, treatment and education campaign in the downtown eastside community (DTES). This program is a pilot project linking peers within our DTES to information and resources that they need and are available to them within the PHS programs that currently exist as well as special summer outdoor events.
Our objectives are to test and educate as many people from the DTES community as HIV screening is an important part of preventative health care for everyone. We also intend to link people living with a HIV positive status to all the resources and support that are available to them in their community.
Everyone is Welcome!
1 Get Tested
2 Get Your Results
3 Get a $5 Army and Navy Gift Card & lighter
IMPORTANT INFORMATION
If you have already have been tested at Pigeon Park or LifeSkills you cannot be tested for 3 months
BUT PLEASE BE OUR GUEST!!
Music and Entertainment All Day Long!!
FREE!! HIV testing, Airbrush Tattoos, Food & Fruit, Resources, Live Music
Dinner at NEW Save On Meats restaurant with Karen Fung and Raul Pacheco in Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES)
From Save On Meats:
SAVE ON MEATS / A Vancouver Institution for 54 Years
Al DesLauriers opened Save On Meats at 43 West Hastings in 1957 amid the shine of dozens of neon signs up and down what was then considered Vancouver’s main shopping and entertainment district. The famous ‘flying pigs’ were a beacon for customers and a major attraction along Hastings Street.
But while the city grew and other businesses closed down or moved away Save On Meats remained in its original location serving its loyal clientele for the next 54 years.
In 2009 Al retired and the butcher shop was shut, leaving Vancouverites to mourn the loss of Vancouver legend, not to mention one of the best burgers in town.
Read more here
Photos from a delightful diner style dinner with wonderful dear friends Karen Fung and Raul Pacheco on a Tuesday evening in the Vancouver Downtown Eastside
Karen reads over the menu
Karen pointed out the wall outlet by the condiments to plug in laptops and other devices!
A young child gazes at the Nostalgic menu items
Views of the restaurant
Closeup of our server’s Save On Meat’s T-Shirt
Busy Kitchen!
Our wonderful server taking our orders
A friend drops by to join us for light conversation!
Our server brings us our meal of Cream Soup, side of Broccoli and Grilled cheese sandwich with mashed potatoes
Dinner was followed by two miniature Butterscotch milkshakes
Raul joins our dinner!
A lovely evening with two fantastic friends – Raul and Karen!
AHA MEDIA filmed at Piknic Électronik Afterparty at W2 Media Cafe in W2 Community Media Arts Centre in Vancouver DTES
Le Piknic Électronik
Founded in 2003, the Piknic Électronik is a weekly electronic music summer event that takes place in the Place de l’Homme on St. Helena Island, Montreal, Quebec. Some weeks, the event moves to other sites on the same island, or on the nearby Ile Notre-Dame. In addition, some sporadic Piknic’s are organized during the year with specific themes:
- Cabane à sucre électronik aka Sugar Shack Electronik (at Jean Drapeau Park on 4 and 5 April 2009)
- Igloofest (external event taking place on several evenings during the winter in Montreal)
- Piknic @ Vancouver (Stanley Park June 24, 2010, in collaboration with Francophone Summer Festival Vancouver)
Mindful of its mission to democratize electronic music and talent contained in the electronic music scene in Montreal and internationally, the Piknic Électronik is intended as a weekly event combining fun and innovative discovery.
++++ June 24th Lineup
Pompe Tes Pipes (Montreal)
myspace.com/ptpodt / soundcloud.com/pompetespipes
Bio: The PomPe tes PiPes Olympic Dj Team was born in july 2008, when Funky Falz, Archibald Singleton and Tony the Tiger decided to launch the PTP nights @ the Gymnase, in Montreal. With an active approach on djing and with live sequencers, PTP-ODT gives a unique performance each time they play, giving the long lasting advantages of the dj set, with the performance of live music showcase. In their first year, they’ve played with Living~Stone, Mofomatronix, Power Players, Les Mi@tches, Tom Bypass, Dj in your face, BSBTRGDclub, Yannkat and Kasdal from the Cruz Control Crew and many more. They’ve been invited by Ninja Tunes to play at their monthly Clock Out, opened for The Glitch Mob @ Piknic Electronik, and the adventure is only beginning.
Derek Duncan (Leisure)
leisureleisure.com / soundcloud.com/derekduncan
Alex Slaughter (Leisure / YIIK)
leisureleisure.com
Zeeaa (Midnight City / JYB / Inside Out Radio)
Tuesdays 8-9pm on www.citr.ca or 101.9fm / soundcloud.com/insideoutradio
Panel Discussion of late artist James Cumming’s Mural of 100 years History of Vancouver Downtown Eastside (DTES) at Vancouver Public Library
“Your Story, My Story, Our Story”
A 100 year history of the DTES by artist and community member James Cumming!
James Cumming has been working for the past 7 years on completing his epic undertaking, a 78 square foot mural, “your story, my story, ourstory”. The mural is a visual narrative of the history of the DTES in
Vancouver from 1903-2003 and will hang in the atrium of the Vancouver Public Library Central Branch from July 1-14, 2011.
James’ wish is that the mural will engage viewers in remembering their role in the history of our city and encourage them to share their stories with their children and friends; it is an educational piece as
well as a 100 year retrospective on the rich history of the DTES community. Sadly James passed away earlier this year before he had a chance to share his life’s work.
Celebrate James Cumming’s life though his artwork and share it with the community he was so proud to be a part of. Please help us in fulfilling his dream of sharing “Your Story, My Story, Our Story” with
the city of Vancouver for generations to come. Our goal is to have this mural displayed next at the Vancouver Art Gallery before securing a home for it in the Vancouver DTES.
1. Carnegie 1903: The library is born
2. Potlatch 1905: This young native man is being sent into the racist hell of the BC penitentiary for the crime of participating in the Potlatch ceremony.
3. Anti Asian Riot 1907: First, an angry mob attacked Chinatown, then turned its anger and hate on Japantown where the Japanese fought back and won.
4. Salvation Army 1910: This Christian organization has been and remains to this day, an integral part of the DTES community.
5. War 1914: It is my contention, in this panel, that if the truth about the war had been made known on the front page on the first day of the war, no one would have gone.
6. Only Yesterday 1916: GAS
7. Vimy Ridge 1917: Our people fighting and giving their lives for our freedom.
8. Brothers 1918: Thank God its finally over.
9. Army and Navy 1919: The Army and Navy army surplus store opens its doors for the first time at its present location.
10. The Market Crashes 1929: Unemployment and Suicide; the nightmare begins.
11. Shot and Forgotten 1932: A hobo, shot in the back for the crime riding in on of the railroad’s boxcars.
12. Hard Times 1933: The land blows away on the prairies and a migration to pick apples in BC begins.
13. Hallelujah, I’m a bum 1934: It’s going to be one hell of a long ride atop the freight train, alongside the Fraser River, the engine fires burning on ahead.
14. Strike at the Carnegie 1935: Strikers camped out on the roof of the Carnegie Center; food was hauled up by them in baskets.
15. March on Ottawa 1935: Police riots in Regina, 17 men killed.
16. Hitler 1939: He screamed “war” and the door to hell opened.
17. Bushito 1941: The code of the Samurai. You do not surrender. To surrender is unacceptable. You save the last bullet for yourself.
18. One Suitcase 1942: The Japanese were rounded up and sent to internment camps such as Kaslo, in the interior of BC for the duration of the war. No boats and no property allowed, only what you could fit in a suitcase.
19. Liberation 1944: The Normandy invasion – and the war to liberate Europe begins.
20. Bunker 1945: Not the year, not the month, not the day, not the hour, not the minute, not the second, but the exact moment of Hitler’s suicide.
21. Hiroshima 1945: 8:15am, August the 6th, 120,000 people vaporized.
22. Smilin’ Buddha Cabaret 1953: A night on the town (Hastings street) and a walk over to Pender street for some Chinese food.
23. Royale Cafe 1955: One of the few restaurants where you could go for Chinese food, a cup of coffee, and a slice of apple pie (Pender Street).
24. Pigeon Park 1957: In the morning – some of the people feeling good. Some of the people feeling God-awful.
25. Another Saturday Night 1960: Same old thing, Another Saturday night coming to its logical conclusion on Hastings street.
26. Chinese New Year 1963: In this panel, the words Happy New Year appear in Chinese between exploding firecrackers.
27. Bob Busted 1967: Born with flowers in her hair, love in her heart, and revolution in her hands, Sharon Kravitz holds an edition of the Georgia Straight depicting my brother, Bob Cumming, being busted for contravening the obscenity laws of the time. Bob was the assistant editor and chief editorialist of the Georgia Straight.
28. Lux Theater 1968: The sidewalk was BC collateral, The White Lunch, The Lux Theater, The Furniture Spot, and The Dobson Hotel. The Lux was ripped out and lay as a vacant spot for years before becoming what is
now the Lux Hotel.
29. Save the Whales 1971: Greenpeace was born.
30. Ambulance 1973: Sadly, an all too common necessity in the DTES.
31. Re-Awakening 1975: Re-awakening of a spiritual and cultural heritage. Raven and drum in the longhouse of the people.
32. Shopping Carts 1977: Shopping carts as modus operandi (2 panels).
33. The Alley 1983: Me with the bottle – Michelle with the needle; in our hideout the alley.
34. Dead in the Street 1985: Another bad night for the police on the streets of the DTES.
35. The Sisters 1988: A bowl of soup – A sandwich – A helping hand. The Franciscan Sisters of the Atonement.
36. Getting By 1990: Me and Mark dumpster diving (2 panels)
37. United We Can 1995: Life’s a lineup when you are poor (the Bottle Depot) (2 panels).
38. Crab Park 1995: An oasis in the midst of the madhouse.
39. The Dragon 1996: Cocaine, Heroin; the victims.
40. Rain Vancouver – Wind Vancouver 1997: These drawings in winter represent the Carnegie, facing the storm and Hastings and Main for the last one hundred years.
41. The Woodwards Squat 1998: The signs read: This is the end of the Liberals in BC; Homelessness is a crime against all the people.
42. Lost Friends 1999: Oppenheimer Park, Remembering our lost friends and missing women.
43. The Kiss 2000: Getting ready for another night’s work.
44. Leave us alone 2001: We didn’t leave all of you for nothing – Crack Cocaine.
45. The End 2002: Nobody wants you when the diseases are obvious.
46. Heart of the City Parade 2003: A culmination of festivities celebrating Carnegie’s one hundredth anniversary (2 panels)
47: The Reaching Hand; The Cigarette Butt: The hand reaches through the entire mural; the 100 year stretch depicting the poverty that inflicts the DTES.
To the Media, Government Officials, Community Leaders and Members,
We need your help to get us as much coverage ad support for this important cultural piece! Our goal is to have this mural displayed next at the Vancouver Art Gallery before securing a permanent home for it in Vancouver’s DTES.
Please help us in fulfilling James Cumming’s dream of sharing “Your Story, My Story, Our Story” with the Vancouver community for generations to come!
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