Under Vancouver 1972–1982

To coincide with the launch of Greg Girard’s new book Under Vancouver 1972–1982, published by the Magenta Foundation, Monte Clark Gallery presents an exhibition of photographs featured in the publication. Books will be available for purchase and signing during the opening.

Greg Girard’s photographs of Vancouver from the 1970s and early 1980s show us the city’s final days as a port town at the end of the railway line. Soon after Vancouver began to be noticed by the wider world (Expo 86 is generally agreed on as the pivotal moment), the city began refashioning itself as an urban resort on nature’s doorstep and attracting attention as a destination for real estate investment. At that time, long before post-9/11 security concerns sealed off the working waterfront from the city, many of Vancouver’s downtown and east side streets ended at the waterfront, an area filled with commercial fishing docks, cargo terminals, and bars and cafés for waterfront workers and sailors. Pawn-shop windows downtown displayed outboard motors, chainsaws, and fishing gear. Wandering these streets and living in cheap hotels, Girard photographed the workaday (and night) world of the city where he grew up.