This weekend, Richmondites got to learn more about the art pieces on display outside Aberdeen and Lansdowne stations, and the artists who created them.
The free walking tour was a part of the 2022 Capture Photography Festival, and featured artists Chad Wong, Adriele Au and Kyla Bourgh.
The tour kick-started with Wong’s installation titled Empty Spaces that Fill My Heart, which captured spaces in Richmond and Chinatown symbolic to the Chinese-Canadian experience.
Wong is a second-generation immigrant, and his installation was driven by his sentiments about the 2019 Hong Kong protests, and his desire to preserve fading spaces that contribute to his cultural identity.
The idea of home and belonging is also central to Au’s pieces on display on the No. 3 Road Art Column – I am a Thousand Years Old, Double Puddluv 1 and Puddluv Wave 2.
Au gave participants an insight into her idea of home through her childhood photos, and she also brought a sample of her creations using party crepe paper so participants could see her Puddluv pieces in a three-dimensional manner.
Au hopes to challenge our perception of objects that we have in our homes and our lives, and explore the ambiguity of the concept of home and the objects that represent home.
The tour concluded with Bourgh’s installation, which challenged another type of perception. Bourgh’s installation is titled Objects given to my mom because she is Asian, featuring her mother’s collection of miscellaneous items from a myriad of cultures.
Bourgh’s work was inspired by her experiences of being in the middle of different cultures, and she hopes to address the hidden aspects of discrimination by disclosing what is commonplace and occurs daily.
Despite the diversity in themes and mediums, the three artists shared one common goal – the desire to create art that is easily accessible and provides space for people to reflect.
“Public art makes you look up, and it makes you wonder,” said Au.
Wong and Au’s work can be found at Aberdeen Station, while Bourgh’s is at Lansdowne.
