Capture Photography Festival to return in April with four new public art projects

by Amanda Siebert on February 17th, 2017 at 12:42 PM

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The fourth annual Capture Photography Festival returns to Metro Vancouver on April 1, and will feature more than 100 free exhibitions, along with numerous public art projects.

The largest celebration of photography in Western Canada, Capture will bring back a number of festival highlights, including a feature exhibition in partnership with the Contemporary Art Gallery (CAG), a series of installations at Canada Line stations in Vancouver, and a selection of 17 Pattison outdoor billboards that will highlight the relationship between still-life photography and advertising.

This year's feature exhibition, Song of an Open Road, takes its name from a poem by Walt Whitman, and will embrace a diverse set of approaches to photography: some keep it traditional, while others require cutting-edge technology.

The Canada Line public art project will return in 2017.

Amanda Siebert

The entire building will be part of the exhibition, as its exterior will be dressed with an installation by photographer Kelly Javzac.

Other featured artists in the exhibit will include Vikky Alexander, Robert Arndt, Gerard Byrne, Jacqueline Hoang Nguyen, Kelly Lycan, Niamh O'Malley, Dawit L. Petros, Greg Staats, and Lisa Tan.

Among the returning public art projects will be the large scale, site-specific piece installed on the facade of the BC Hydro Dal Grauer Substation by Alex Morrison. The artwork won't be revealed until the festival begins on April 1.

As for the four brand new public exhibitions, two will be displayed in Vancouver, while two will extend to other parts of the Lower Mainland.

The work of Alinka Echeverria will be installed at the Stadium-Chinatown SkyTrain Station, while pieces by Karen Zalamea and Joseph Staples will be displayed in storefront windows in Gastown and South Granville, hosted by the neighbourhoods' respective BIAs.

An image from Joseph Staples' Falun Series, as part of the Art in Your Neighbourhood exhibit, which will be featured in the Gastown and South Granville BIAs. (Work by Karen Zalamea will be in the latter area.)

Amanda Siebert

Capture New West will include two site-specific works by James Nizam and Matthew Brooks, installed at the Telus Plaza (610 Sixth Street) and the UFCW Local 1518 Building (350 Columbia Street) in early April, where they will remain until Spring 2018.

In Richmond, six photographers will have their work displayed in lightboxes wrapped around the base of the Canada Line at the Landsdowne and Aberdeen stations. It will include works by Annie Briard, Paulo Majano, Michael Love, Christina Dixon and Woojae Kim, Jeff Downer, and Patryk Stasieczek.

Stay tuned for more information on upcoming exhibits and public art projects.