In Print: The 13th Annual Oppenheimer Park Community Art Book

Cover art: TJ Felix, CRAB Park, 2020.

The Oppenheimer Park Community Art Show — the tradition continues through the pandemic in the form of a book featuring the artwork and insight of 40 artists and community leaders connected to or displaced from Oppenheimer Park, the green space known as Lek’lekí, the Powell Street Grounds, Paureu gai, the backyard of the Downtown Eastside; the unceded land of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) and səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) peoples.

A community partnership between Oppenheimer Park/Carnegie Community Centre Association and Gallery Gachet, this annual show began in 2008 in anticipation of changes, challenges, and loss in a pre-Olympic city. As the Park has been enclosed since March, for 2020 we invited artists to engage thematically with ongoing processes of placement and displacement. Historical context is provided with open letters and the transcript of “Displacement in Public Green Spaces,” an online conversation (listen here) hosted in May by Vines Art Festival, who we welcome as co-publisher.

Designed by Jane Harms, the art book features contributions from Adrienne Macallum, Bonnie Low, Brian Humchitt, Rosa Chan, Carol Larson, Cassandra “Tina” Eastman, Diane Wood, DTES Graffiti Artists, Bruce Walther, Gilles Cyrenne, Edgar Alan Rossetti, Gladys Lee, Eva Cho, Grace Chan, Jim Dewar, James Pau, Lily Huo, Marko, May Li, Michael Edward Nardachioni, Phoenix Winter, Robyn Livingstone, Priscillia Mays, Rudolf Penner, Serena Guan, Shannon Johnson, Stanley M Paul, Wendy Stewart, TJ Felix, Siobhan Barker, Ga’axstsalas Cheryle Williams (gunargie o’sullivan), Jane Shi, jaye simpson, Adriana Contreras Correal, Les Nelson, Lorelei Hawkins, and Manuel Axel Strain.

The 13th Annual Oppenheimer Community Art Book is available PWYC/by donation through Gallery Gachet.

For copies or more information please contact: programming @ gachet.org  | 604-687-2468

The art book is also available at Massy Books, 229 E Georgia St.

We continue to consider what a ‘park’ is and can be, along with the many ways people imagine and relate to DTES green spaces. Stay tuned for programming updates as we reflect on last year, imagine this Fall’s 14th show, and engage with the Vancouver Park Board’s community-influenced, phased process of ‘reopening’ Oppenheimer Park.