Look up! At Vancouver's Capture Photography Festival, images are where you least expect them

The average SkyTrain commuter might not realize it, but for the month of April, a trip on the Canada Line doubles as entry to Vancouver's Capture Photography Festival. Opening Friday, and running through April 29, the festival celebrates the best in contemporary "lens-based" art, and it's the largest event of its kind in western Canada. As such, there are loads of exhibitions to explore at local museums and various partner venues. But you might just discover something equally incredible while en route to the Vancouver Art Gallery — or while walking your dog, for that matter. 

As part of Capture's public-art program, several festival sites are right out in the open. (The art appearing on the Canada Line is just one example.) For the last two years, the pandemic's pushed just about every cultural experience outside, but even as audiences return to indoor venues this spring — and more and more events return — the premise of experiencing art al fresco is still exciting stuff to Emmy Lee Wall, Capture's executive director. "There's an opportunity for people to connect and interact with art every day — which they might not otherwise seek out," she explains, talking with CBC Arts.

From art gallery façades to walking trails, here's where to find everything

Capture's public programming stretches as far east as Coquitlam, but many of the projects can be found in and around Vancouver's downtown, including this super-sized example: an installation by Sara Cwynar, a Vancouver-born artist and past winner of the Sobey Art Award. It'll loom over Burrard Street for the rest of the year. (Find it on the exterior of the BC Hydro Dal Grauer Substation.) 

If you want a complete map of the public programming, bookmark this guide. But even without it, you might stumble across a festival site by accident. Maybe you'll notice something unusual about the billboards around the River District and Arbutus Greenway, for example. From now through May 22, all that ad space is being turned over to art projects by Yoshinori Mizutani and Miranda Barnes.

Last year's billboard controversy hasn't changed Capture's approach

Most people probably don't expect to wander through an art exhibition while toddling over to the supermarket or wherever. In a best case scenario, it's a happy surprise — and that's certainly the outcome Capture's organizers are hoping for. But this time last year, one festival project, an outdoor exhibition from the artist Steven Shearer, came as a shock to some. 

Billboards along the Arbutus Greenway featured candid images of anonymous folks, all zonked out in slumber. Some locals found the pictures upsetting. As Wall told CBC News last spring: "They said that the images were horrible, they were terrible, that they made them want to vomit." And in response to the complaints, Pattison Outdoor Advertising, the company that partners on the project, pulled them all down — within 48 hours of putting them up.

That whole experience hasn't changed Capture's approach to programming the public-art component of the festival, Wall says. "For me, it really highlighted the importance of public art, and that not everyone is exposed to challenging images, challenging imagery, and that it is important to have those conversations."

Not sure what to think about the art? Ask yourself these questions.

That's not to say that Capture's public installations are meant to provoke. Maybe you'll instantly swoon over a Shannon Bool billboard or a collage by Angeline Simon. Maybe not. But if you cross paths with some artwork, think of it as an opportunity to slow down for a second and reflect.

What can you do to help guide your thinking? Here's Wall's advice: "Just stop. Take a minute. Look and think — and think about what questions the images raise for you. And if something makes you uncomfortable, why does it make you uncomfortable?"

On April 2, you can ponder those kind of thoughts one-on-one with a member of the Capture team. Assistant curator of engagement Jas Lally will be walking the Arbutus Greenway that afternoon, and anyone keen to talk about the billboard exhibition installed at that location is invited to track down Lally for an insightful chat. 

That bit of public outreach is a new idea introduced for this year's festival. Says Wall: "When people have someone to ask questions of, it just really helps their understanding. You want to offer as much accessibility as possible."

Here are some more of the public-art highlights:

Sara Cwynar, Umi

A special commission for this year's festival, Wall describes this piece as Capture's "signature project," and as previously mentioned, it will appear on the side of the Dal Grauer Substation, filling a significant stretch of the building's grid-like façade.

"It's of a woman who's holding this really ambiguous pose," says Wall, who was intrigued by the figure's seeming contradictions. "She looks both simultaneously contrived and also relaxed. Her pose waffles somewhere between private contemplation and exasperation. There's this kind of ambiguity and questioning that was really interesting for both Sarah and I."

"I'm curious to see the public response to this image because it's so large-scale and so grand," says Wall, and the public will have plenty of time to form their opinions. The image will be up through March of 2023.

Michelle Bui, Envelop #1-8

Here's another monumental project for you: this series from artist Michelle Bui will wrap the exterior of Vancouver's Contemporary Art Gallery through Aug. 30. It's the first time a Capture project has taken over that particular public space, Wall notes, and it's not the only place you'll find public works by the Montreal artist.

Michelle Bui, works from Mutable Materialism

This still life by Bui, along with several others from her series Mutable Materialism, will be stretched across the surface of the city's Yaletown-Roundhouse Station.

Philotheus Nisch (Skewer, Straw, Breadcrust)

Like the work above, this photo by Philotheus Nisch is part of Capture's Canada Line public art project, which features still life compositions by nine different artists. Says Wall, talking about that program: "You'll really see the extensive nature of the ways that contemporary practicing artists have considered objects, their symbolic significance, their cultural weight. It's really fascinating to think of the different power that objects hold within society today." Nisch's work will appear at King Edward Station.

Joseph Maida, works from Things 'R' Queer

Elsewhere on the Canada Line, you'll discover images like this one by Joseph Maida at Olympic Village Station.

Svava Tergesen, works from the Crudités

Local artist Svava Tergesen features at the Canada Line's Marine Drive Station. (That photogenic produce? She found it at a T&T Supermarket not far from that transit stop.)

Miranda Barnes, A Journey Reframed

Curated by Isolde Brielmaier, this outdoor project marks the American artist's first exhibition in Vancouver — and according to Wall, it's an absolute must-see. Featuring photographs Barnes took on her travels through the States, the series occupies seven billboards along the Arbutus Greenway, one of the city's bike-friendly corridors. 

"They're up high, they're bold. They really have an evocative, poetic feel," says Wall, who goes on to quote Barnes's essay for the Capture festival catalogue. "Miranda says, 'I like to believe that my work leaves space for imagination and highlights themes that interest me, such as nostalgia for the past and dreaming about the future.' I just thought that was really beautiful, this kind of space for imagination and this open-endedness."

"And that's really what I feel like public art can do — provide this moment or this glimpse into another world as you're rushing about your busy day."

2022 Capture Photography Festival. April 1 to 29. Various locations, Vancouver. www.capturephotofest.com