Fotoeins Fotografie

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Posts from the ‘Asian American Canadian’ category

My Berlin: Chinese-Canadian Q.J. Louie at the Commonwealth War Cemetery

Above/featured: Cemetery view facing west, from the shelter building to the Stone of Remembrance, Cross of Sacrifice, and Terrace in the distance (WCL-X70: 14/21mm).

There’s a presence from western Canada buried in eastern Germany.

In Vancouver, Canada, the H.Y. Louie family has long been a part of the Chinese-Canadian community and the overall merchant community. Their current business holdings include the London Drugs chain of stores and the IGA grocery-store chain; both are well recognized throughout greater Vancouver.

One member of the family is resting permanently 8000 kilometres away in Berlin, Germany. An important goal in my return to the German capital city is a visit to the cemetery where a member of the Louie family, Q.J. Louie, is buried. It’s never been a matter of if, but when I return to Berlin.

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The Retired Draft Horse and the Last Pulled Log, Ken Lum, Kings Crossing, G and F Financial Group, Burnaby, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “The Retired Draft Horse …”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2020, Lum completed a sculptural work commissioned by Cressey Properties for its development in the city of Burnaby. “The Retired Draft Horse and the Last Pulled Log” resides at Kings Crossing at the intersection of Kingsway and Edmonds. Lum wrote in his proposal:

“… about a draught horse that is no longer called to work.The horse is a Clydesdale or a Persheron, the largest of draught horses that were commonly employed in British Columbia in the 19th- and early 20th-centuries. The log with chains on the Edmonds street site is meant to be in dialogue with the horse sculpture at the primary site of Kingsway and Edmonds.The larger than life size but not greatly larger than life sized horse surveys the modernity that has transpired since its working days in Burnaby and acts a sentinel of both the past and the future of the site.”

I made the photo above on 16 May 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-llo.

Fotoeins Friday: “From shangri-la to shangri-la”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

These look like wooden shacks along a creek or small river. In 2010, Lum completed a sculptural work commissioned by the City of Vancouver next to the four-star Shangri-La Hotel, as a “reminder of contested local histories.” Meant only as a temporary display, the piece was eventually removed. In 2012, the District of North Vancouver purchased Lum’s piece; a modified smaller version of the sculptural piece is installed at Maplewood Flats, in the very same area where shacks had once populated the mudflats along the northern shores of Burrard Inlet. Represented are houses once owned by artist Tom Burrows, writer Malcolm Lowry, and OrcaLab founder Dr. Paul Spong.

I made the photo above on 3 Jul 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm) with digital teleconverter set to 33/50mm. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-llf.

Monument to East Vancouver, Ken Lum, East Van, VCC-Clark, Millennium Line, SkyTrain, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “Monument for East Vancouver”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2010, Lum completed a large sculptural work commissioned by the City of Vancouver. The work “Monument for East Vancouver” is situated in East Vancouver, standing above a rapid-transit station over the filled-in area of former tidal mudflats. Also informally called the “East Van Cross,” the sculpture situated in the “working class” or east side of the city faces west towards the wealthier parts of the city, including downtown and the west side. The symbolism regarding economic background and the specificity of place will be obvious to people of colour. Lum once said:

“… It’s a crucifix, that’s what it is – a highly charged symbol. Christ suffered on the cross. East Van suffers on the cross. The point (is): someone is suffering. And immigrants suffer the most …”

“Ken Lum”. ed. Grant Arnold, Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2011, p. 123.

I made the photo above on 31 May 2014 with a Canon EOS6D mark1. This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lkW.

A Tale of Two Children: A Work for Strathcona, Ken Lum, National Works Yard, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

Fotoeins Friday: “A Tale of Two Children”, by Ken Lum

I’m highlighting this month Chinese-Canadian artist Ken Lum: born and raised in the western Canadian city of Vancouver; he began studying chemistry at university before switching completely to art. Today, not only does he continue to make art, but he also comments about the contemporary and historical nature of art and about how art and society continuously shapes and informs each other. All of Lum’s pieces featured this month are located outdoors and freely accessible to the public at zero cost.

In 2005, Lum completed a permanent work commissioned by the City of Vancouver for its public works yard on National Avenue. The work “A Tale of Two Children: A Work for Strathcona” is not only a nod to his formative years growing up in the Strathcona neighbourhood, but provides different views to children and their changing (and precipitous) views regarding self-worth within a society that’s already prejudged them.

I made the photo above on 1 Jun 2021 with a Fujifilm X70 fixed-lens prime (18.5/28mm). This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-lkF.

Komagata Maru Memorial, 100th anniversary : Vancouver, BC, Canada - 23 May 2014, fotoeins.com

Vancouver: “Komagata Maru” centenary (2014)

I wrote previously about the Komagata Maru incident and its importance to the South Asian community in Vancouver and Canada. The incident is one chapter in a long history of racism in the city, province, and country. One of the plaques presented to the Khalsa Diwan Society reads:

British Columbia – Motion of Apology –

On May 23rd, 2008 the Province of British Columbia introduced and endorsed a motion to formally apologize for the events of May 23rd, 1914, when 376 passengers of the Komagata Maru were denied entry to Canada.

Motion No. 62, The Honourable Michael de Jong moved: “Be it resolved that this legislature apologizes for the events of May 23, 1914, when 376 passengers of the Komagata Maru, stationed off Vancouver harbour, were denied entry by Canada. The House deeply regrets that the passengers, who sought refuge in our country and our province, were turned away without benefit of the fair and impartial treatment befitting a society where people of all cultures are welcomed and accepted.

Honourable Michael C. de Jong, Q.C., Minister (Finance), Member of the (B.C.) Legislative Assembly.

The photos show a number of people who attended the commemoration event. Their faces reveal (what I term as) “mixed burdens of survival, relief, and accomplishment” as well as “joy and gratitude”.

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Vancouver: Komagata Maru and echoes of racism in Canada

Years have come and gone, and Canada is a different country on a better course than was set out in 1867. And yet, the ghosts of prejudice still haunt us, right up until today.

(Duncan McCue is a reporter for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.)

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Chinatown Memorial Plaza, Chinatown Memorial Square, Chinatown Memorial Monument, Chinatown, Vancouver, BC, Canada, fotoeins.com

My Vancouver: Chinatown Memorial Square

Above/featured: Chinatown Memorial Square, Vancouver, Canada – 15 Mar 2019 (X70).

Living in and between two societies can often mean a fractured existence; unclear and ambiguous it might be at times between cultural identity at birth with the country of birth.

But my truth is and always has been very simple.

I am Canadian. I am Chinese. I am Chinese-Canadian. I am Canadian-Chinese.

I am all of these, and all of these make up who I am.

I believe my parents would not have emigrated to Canada, that my sister and I would not have been born and raised here in this country, had it not been for the perseverance and hard work by early-generations of Chinese Canadians.

Memorial to Chinese Canadians

The history of the city of Vancouver and of the province of British Columbia includes the history of Chinese people in Canada. These histories are inseparable.

What is significant and well-documented are: the impact by Chinese on the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the completion of which delivered in 1871 the “promise” of British Columbia joining Canadian confederation; the 19th-century “gold rush”; fighting racism and state-sponsored repression; volunteering to fight for a country who didn’t want or recognize them; and their subsequent rightful claims of their right to become Canadian citizens and the right to vote.

Standing at the northeast corner of Keefer Street and Columbia Street in Vancouver’s Chinatown is a memorial to early Chinese-Canadians. The stylized “中” character is surrounded by two sculptures representing important times in Canadian history: a Chinese-Canadian working on the national railway, and a Chinese-Canadian soldier serving in World War Two. In the context of the memorial, the character “中” also represents harmony in spirit, and a declaration and recognition of the past and present, and hopes for the future.

Inscriptions at the memorial are as follows:

This Chinatown Memorial Monument is the creation of sculptor Mr. Arthur Shu-Ren Cheng. The bronze statues of the railway worker and the World War II veteran represent the sacrifices made by Chinese Canadians in building a united and prosperous Canada. The main column is a stylized form of the Chinese character “centre” (“中”) which symbolizes Chinese culture. The Chinese couplet inscribed on the front and back of the column reads:

(Front/Left) “Rich legacies of Chinese pioneers shining bright as the sun and moon.”

(Back/Right) “Great deeds of noble forbears zeal entrenched as mountains and rivers.”

In commemoration of the significant contributions of Chinese Canadians to the growth, vitality and prosperity of Vancouver, British Columbia and Canada.

The Chinatown Memorial Monument is funded by the City of Vancouver, Province of British Columbia, and Government of Canada under the Vancouver agreement.

Unveiled on the 2nd November 2003

 
 

Chinatown Memorial Square can be reached by TransLink with the SkyTrain to Stadium-Chinatown Station, or with any of bus routes 3, 4, 7, 8, 14, 16, 19, 20, 22, 50, or C23.

More

•   Chinese building the CPR: “Nitro”, video by Historica Canada.
•   Chinese Canadians in military service Chinese Canadian Military Museum.
•   Remembering Gim Wong

This post appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com as https://wp.me/p1BIdT-3YG. Initial photos for the 2013 post have been removed, and a 2019 photo has been inserted in a 2021 edit.

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