Curl Mapped

Situated on the façade of the Anvil Centre in New Westminster, Rebecca Bair’s site-specific installation, Curl Mapped, tackles the complex, colonial history of archives to represent that which is absent: traces of Black settlers in this region. Bair spent significant time in the city archives poring over the leather-bound ledgers, reading the handwritten notes, and examining the photographs therein only to discover a gap – what she describes as “a ghost in the space.” In Curl Mapped, Bair interrupts parts of the map with curly tendrils of hair, which for her, is symbolic of heritage and cultural care. As these coils reach toward one another, attempting to close the gap in the map, they suggest the subjective nature of maps while gesturing to the need to acknowledge and repair this lack of representation.

Commissioned by the City of New Westminster, this temporary public art installation is presented in partnership with Capture Photography Festival.