Made In Strathcona. 2022

Made in Strathcona is a series of three mechanical zoetropes with integrated lighting. Externally each piece is identical. Internally, they are unique, containing a sequential sculpture that is displayed as animation. Activated via touch button, an electric motor spins a drum with 12 narrow slots. As the drum accelerates the slots appear to widen, then merge. Viewed through the slots, the sequence of sculptures function as a 3D film strip. Each slot shows a single frame (sculpture). Viewed in rapid succession, they have the illusion of motion. The series explores locations in Vancouver, Canada where I relocated in 2015. I left the following year, when I began the project, completing it in summer 2022. The works merge factual and imagined memories of the city.  The title of the series takes inspiration from a chalkboard outside a local brewery. It is also the neighbourhood that I called home.

• Made in Strathcona: 9/6. 2022

• 81 x 61 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 x 24 in

• Plastic, metal, electronics

Exploring my neighbourhood one afternoon, I made an interesting discovery. A geometric mural by Gabriel Dubois on Powell Street; it can be read as three digits, “696”, or three angular spirals. And, nearby on Railway Street, an angled beam that props the adjacent buildings of a vacant lot. Backlit, it drew a huge black stripe across a blue sky and contrasting port infrastructure. Whilst the purpose of these spaces differed, both served as architectural graphics on a grand scale. When I recall their discovery, it's as though they are a single location. I merge their attributes, creating a new imagined place.

• Made in Strathcona: Murder on Gore Street. 2022

• 81 x 61 x 61 cm / 32 x 24 x 24 in

• Plastic, metal, electronics

Vancouver’s famous migratory crows traverse the city daily. They head west to the coast at dawn, returning at dusk to roost in Burnaby. Along the way, they raid the city. My own bicycle commute was more modest, though it also took me west, typically stalling at a busy junction to cross Gore Street. Here I would frequently witness hundreds of crows causing havoc on a patch of waste ground. That location and the collective noun for these mischievous birds could be the title of a Hitchcock movie, which in turn influenced this artwork about rain, for which the city is equally infamous.