my name is scot

Apologia - a new body of work

2011-12-27T14:55:00.000-08:00

Post- Stanley Cup, pre-Occupy, Apologia re-purposes texts taken directly from the raw plywood hoardings that covered Vancouver streets after the June 2011 riots. I've mimicked the gestures and faked the textures and colours of the original scripts and then re-mixed selected portions of the narrative scrawl into a fabricated tableaux of counterfeit relics; creating, in effect - a false 'Apology Wall'.

Lost in the crowd, amidst the spectacle's shameless sermonizing and almost self- congratulatory contrition are fragments of feeling that seem to point to a deeper and potentially meaningful, collective unrest. By re-contextualizing the 'real' wall's chastening catch-phrases, randomly inserting manipulated 'profile picture' images, and assigning imaginary authorship to impersonal confessions, I'm hoping to redeem the more plausible expressions of private regret, remind people of other civic events that bear witnessing, explore genuine acknowledgements of public dissent and perhaps, by reading between the lines, discover the catalysts for inciting a lasting and constructive civic conscience.

New Video Work

2011-09-20T11:51:00.000-07:00

... a lone, masked figure takes a stand in a disrupted landscape... defining her place, creating the space to inhabit her own body, looking for ways to construct new meaning. Fighting for the right to stand alone, the hope to be included, the freedom to say no, the freedom to say yes, over here, out there, anywhere, everywhere; Independence...

From the synopsis for my latest video, Independence, now playing at festivals this month in Beirut, Riga and Budapest and also viewable online as part of CologneOFF Vll- http://coff.newmediafest.org/ If you have a few moments please have a look and let me know what you think, wherever you are.

Citizen George

2011-06-30T13:42:00.000-07:00

Ingress/Egress

2011-04-14T11:08:00.000-07:00

Pushed or Fallen? - some recent photos

2010-11-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

The Downtown Eastside is changing rapidly. Everybody agrees. Many would say for the better. Some might disagree. New shops, bars and restaurants, facelifts for heritage buildings, schools for the contemporary arts, outreach programs, bread-lines, drop-in shelters, needle exchanges, soup kitchens and supportive housing. Side by side and often overlapping. People for, people against, people being displaced and people who don't know where they stand.

Recently, a young woman flew out of a rooming house window to land dead on the ground in the back alley below. Locals claimed her death was due to the brutal payment enforcement tactics of drug selling gangs and called for the police to take action. The police labelled the death as just another tragic drug related suicide and refused to consider local concerns as valid.

Over 15 years ago, neighbourhood residents were similarly dismissed when they began voicing concerns about local women going missing. An inquest has only just been initiated to look into why it took so long for the authorities to seriously address that situation.

Meanwhile, the re-development of the DTES gets pushed along and people continue to stake their claims on both sides of the gentrification issue. For some, the transformation of the neighbourhood is too rapid, for others, the change is long overdue. But some of the attitudes about the neighbourhood, feel like they will never change, and some people in the neighbourhhood, continue to fall between the cracks of opinion and ideology and disappear, forever.

Shoot Me! - A Synopsis

2010-08-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

The last few posts are texts from a project called Shoot Me! They’re based on extracts from filming notices I’ve been collecting over the last few years, from productions shot in my neighborhood, Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. I think of them as “picture in picture” narratives, but they can be read as screenplays for unseen performances or closed captioned storyboards or maybe even stage directions, for walking the increasingly fine line that separates the real from the unreal on the streets of the DTES.

I’ve lifted location details and scene descriptions directly from the notices, cut and pasted fragments of dialogue and film lingo from the shooting scripts, call sheets and screenplays that I’ve found discarded on the streets and then re-mixed the whole thing to try and reveal the sometimes uncanny, occasionally inconsiderate and often uncomfortable narrative overlaps between life as lived in one of Canada’s poorest postal codes and life as filtered through the lens of Hollywood North.

The DTES has always been a kind of ground zero for Hollywood North productions, being malleable enough to be dressed up for mid-town Manhattan, stripped down for small town, depression era Mid-west, or more often than not, filmed almost as is, to mimic the urban ghetto of Anytown, USA . Alleys get cleaned up, hosed down and then re-filled with “prop” garbage, neighbourhood residents get hustled out of the way and replaced with extras dressed to look like the very people they’ve displaced. TV shows are filmed about serial killers while local women are disappearing on the same streets that “fake” police cars are cruising. As a long time resident of the area, at some point, you can no longer tell if the “Crime Scene” tape is real or a prop. Like it or not you find yourself cast as an extra and scripted into storylines and scenarios that are not always of your own choosing.

The film production notices themselves are usually a bland mixture of damage control and boosterism; filled with thumbnail sketches of the action, mundane parking restriction info, apologies for noise, pleas for late night filming extensions, tantalizing hints about the “Stars” involved and thanks in advance for “your support of B.C.’s film industry”. Reading between the lines, there’s a wealth of other information about money, agency, gentrification and identity.

In the texts I’ve composed, I’ve maintained and/or recreated the original formatting of the source document text – i.e. aspects of spacing/layout, Italics to signify either the title of the film being produced or to note quoted dialogue and the use of Caps or Bold type to denote specific times/ location info. Fracture, Revolution and The Butterfly effect 1&2 are built entirely out of text excerpted from production notices, call sheets, and screenplays. The other piece, Re-Write, is a screenplay-esque treatment of two actual incidents that occurred in conjunction with filming in the DTES ( the placement of a cryptic billboard for a Canadian TV series new season, in the middle of “The Stroll” and another production company's hanging of a prop female corpse, right behind the Women’s Drop-in Shelter, both events occuring during the height of the search for the neighbourhood’s missing women).

The images in between the texts include scans of discarded film ephemera, as well as pictures I’ve taken, documenting actual film shoots in the neighbourhood. There are also a few images from an earlier project of mine called Hollywood, Not, where I hand painted a number of fictitious film signs and hung them in anticipation of upcoming film shoots.

Collectively, the texts function as a sort of mise en scène of the area’s supposed meta-narrative. Individual pieces can be read as Cinéma Vérité call sheets, cutaway shots of the cutting room floor, or perhaps, a montage of real-time rushes or dailies, from the filmed on location pilot, based on a true story, about life in a make believe place called – 'The Downtown Eastside'.

Or maybe Shoot Me! is just my attempt to script myself into the mix, so I can figure out which side of the camera I’m really on.

The Butterfly Effect ( 1&2)

2010-08-13T12:36:00.000-07:00

The Butterfly Effect (1&2)

Based on the generally positive results of a poll we conducted in your neighbourhood, we film the aftermath of a police incident with many police cars and extras in the street.

We are planning to film on this day between 9:00 AM and 3:30 AM .

In the show 235 Alexander is a nightclub, and in the first episode there is a grand re-opening party scene, which is why we require a longer extension.

Our day begins at 12:30 am on the 00 block of Alexander.

Two actors discuss the discovery of a dead man in the lane.

A scene with several police cars with emergency lights on pulling up to the property from all directions (lights will be flashing, but there won’t be any sirens).

Some of these scenes have choreographed stunts of actors having an altercation.

The location will be dressed as a night club with partygoers gathered in front. We will have a number of people milling about the entrance to 1 Alexander and out into the street as well.

We will be preparing some of the surrounding buildings in the weeks leading up to filming.

Exterior scenes of an actor walking down 90 Alexander and another stunt scene with 3 actors fighting. Vancouver Police will be on hand to perform a temporary road closure when necessary during the filming of this scene.

There will also be a camera in the intersection to film the club-goers.

We will be parking “fake police cars” on the street. The sidewalk will be blocked for approx. one hour.

Actors will be wearing holstered weapons in all scenes.

The activity will include a number of “extras” waiting to get into the club, as well as, several cars driving up to drop off club-goers.

We realize that your neighbourhood entertains it’s fair share of filming.

BG X 66
Waiters x 8
Patrons x 50
Drivebys w/vehicles x 4
Passerbys x 20

Our filming will be very low impact.

Lights on stands, and also perhaps on scaffolding eight to twelve feet high, will be focused on the exterior, although other lights may shine along 200 block Alexander and up to the sky to create mood for night-time filming.

We will make the area brighter than usual.

Pedestrian foot traffic will be closed and re-directed between Gaolers Mews and Blood Alley.

Please identify yourself to an officer for access.

There will be minor special effects of fog and a wet down of the streets for these scenes.

We are sensitive to concerns about filming in the neighbourhood.

The usual curfew is 11 PM.

The noise from simulated gunfire is comparable to the sound of firecrackers.

An SUV drives westbound on Alexander from Main and crashes into a fake wall that will extend into the north sidewalk from the south sidewalk.

Police will be on hand to assist us.

Actors will run around the corner and others will get into a car on Hastings and speed away.

The City of Vancouver has granted us an extension.

A crowd of people and emergency vehicles gathering in front of 41 Alexander Street.

Our final shot of the night will be from a scissor lift on the north sidewalk.

An actor lies on the ground as another approaches him.

3:30 AM. Our crew will then pack up and move to film at another location.

Re-Write

2010-06-11T21:27:00.000-07:00

Re-Write

ACT 01

INT. LIVING ROOM – 03’S APARTMENT – CONTINUOUS – NIGHT

WE PULL BACK FURTHER

CLOSE ON CONDOM

CLOSE ON KLEENEX

CLOSE ON NEEDLE

CLOSE ON STYROFOME SOUP BOWL

( continuing)

Come on let’s get outta here.

(continuing)

Where? I got nowhere else to go.

Cut to:

03 smirks.

01 thinks a second.

02 laughs –( to herself)

03 cuts her off…

She pauses. She buzzes. She waits.

A beat of awkward silence.

FADE UP ON A BRIGHT RED SUN

ACT 02

INT. LOCKED ROOM SHED – NIGHT

He’s wearing street clothes. A tight tee shirt, ragged acid wash jeans, a bulky, oversize wool jacket, scuffed black runners, no socks and a faded Planet Hollywood baseball cap.

02 enters an INDUSTRIAL SECTION of town. She sees the OCEAN in the distance. – and the GIANT CRANES that unload ships.

03 roars around a corner – fishtails – sideswipes a parked van and keeps going.

A Police Car pulls out of an alley and tries to block the road.

CLOSE ON – TELEVISION NEWS ANNOUNCER

REVEAL…

DESERTED INDUSTRIAL AREA (AKA –THE STROLL)

PAN TO…

BILLBOARD – grim faced City Coroner looks down at shrouded body lying on ground, tag line reads: 13 Fresh Ones.

WE PUSH IN CLOSE – ON DUMPSTER

A POLICE CRUISER pulls into the vacant lot – slowly glides around the perimeter – stops beside what looks like a pile of garbage.

COP – calls in to dispatch

We’ve got a problem

ACT 03

INT. CARGO VAN

03 looks backwards INTO THE REAR VIEW MIRROR

– only to see …

OVERHEAD VIEW – of run down street filled with cheap hotels

SECURITY GUARD

THE SECURITY GUARD’s P.O.V. of – caged off area behind boarded up building.

EXTREME CLOSE UP of an old TELEVISION with a smashed in screen.

MEDIUM CLOSE ON – FEET RUNNING – FAST.

REVEAL…

The light changes, car horns blow raucously as the girl runs out into traffic flow, dodging cars, just missing being hit by a bus and then slipping away down a dark alley.

A new angle REVEALS :

EXT. ALLEY – DAY – RAIN

CLOSE ON :

A young woman, looking old and chewed up in ratty clothes,

TITLES: ANGELA DAWN. DISAPPEARED NOVEMBER 11, 1988.

ACT 04

EXT. CITY STREET – DAY

Candace : How did she get there?

Candace’s POV of Angela ducking into dingy doorway.

CHARACTER 01

Dialogue…….

CHARACTER 01 ( CONT’D)

Dialogue…

(and then)

Dialogue…

CHARACTER 02

Dialogue……

(a moment and then)

Dialogue

EXT. CITY – SKY VIEW

Cut to:

SEDAN cruising city streets - NIGHT

ACT 5

FADE UP ON ALLEY – DUMPSTERS – PUDDLES FILLED WITH TRASH

NEW ANGLE REVEALS: Caged back porch of building backing on to alley.

Door opens, tired looking, middle aged woman steps out to light a cigarette, stops, looks down and fiddles with lighter, looks up and gasps.

EXTREME CLOSEUP of her face as she shouts the word – HELP!

WOMAN’S POV: Looking through WIRE CAGE to TALL, OLD TREE on edge of vacant lot behind building. Hanging from a branch in the tree is what appears to be a woman’s corpse.

PULL BACK as woman runs back inside building, doors slams shut. Signage on door reads: WOMEN’S SHELTER.

CUT TO: OVERHEAD VIEW Set Dressers on LADDER awkwardly removing prop of strangled corpse down out of tree. PULL BACK to reveal FILM TRUCKS, CAMERA further along alley. CREW milling around, Director throwing up hands, Principles shaking heads.

FADE IN : Busy Film Production Office, Location Manager - on phone looking rueful, Assistant - filing, listening to conversation and shrugging, Secretary - typing, rolls eyes…

EXTREME CLOSEUP of page coming out of printer –TEXT READS: … We realize your neighbourhood entertains it's fair share of filming and we are sensitive to concerns about filming in the area…

FADE OUT

ROLL CREDITS

Revolution

2010-05-11T22:32:00.000-07:00

Revolution

The following is an outline of our proposed filming times, locations and significant action:

10:00 AM – 11:00 PM : STARTING TODAY WE WILL BE CLOSING DOWN SOME OF THE LOCAL STREETS IN YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD the locations are being kept a closely guarded secret until filming due to the stars that will be featured and for security related concerns CURFEW HOURS BEGIN AT 11 PM

12:30 PM –1:30 PM : we are obligated by the City of Vancouver to inform you when filming will take place in your neighbourhood SOME GUNFIRE WILL BE HEARD DURING THESE HOURS OF FILMING ALONG WITH SOME STREET SCENES THAT WILL INCLUDE CARS CRASHING

2:00- 3:45 PM: lights will be flashing, but there won’t be any sirens all roads will remain open DURING FILMING we will drive the route in one continuous loop travelling through the intersections whether the traffic lights are red or green

4:00 –5:00 PM: a bus pulling up to the curb a number of times a simulated traffic accident in the crosswalk actors will be wearing holstered weapons in all scenes Full road closure & traffic diversions

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM : an exterior scene at “The Police Station” We will have a number of people milling about the entrance and out into the street as well Some of these scenes have choreographed stunts of actors having an altercation

7:30 – 9:00 PM : “Police Officers” in uniform with holstered weapons and “Police Cruisers” will be visible in the laneway bounded by Powell, Gore, Alexander and Main Streets

9:30 –10:00 PM : There will be actors running down the alley and being apprehended by actors dressed as the Police note: The noise from simulated gunfire is comparable to the sound of firecrackers

10:00 PM – 11:00 PM : while all our work will take place within the described properties, to ensure continuity of background, some scenes will be placed under supervision of the Vancouver Police Department

11:30 PM :the city has granted us an extension

12:00 AM : The rest of our crew arrives We will have members of the Vancouver Police Department on hand to escort our driving vehicle

1:00 am : Actors in dialogue and a limousine parked near the crest of the Overpass on the Westbound side of Main Street once we have shot it we will move away immediately

1:30 – 3:00 AM : work trux open closed set hold extras on location no visitors North side of 200 block E. Cordova from Gore to the Police zone

3:30 – 4:00 AM : sometime during the early morning there will be a small pyrotechnic explosion which might be heard in the neighbourhood

4:30 – 5:00 AM : we will film scenes of actors running out onto the street Extras holding ready and hot

5:30 AM : barricades in place

6:00 – 6:30 AM : our trucks will move into place

6:45 AM : curfew over

7:00 AM : Hastings and Abbot is ours!

Fracture

2010-04-18T21:46:00.000-07:00

Fracture

Our story is about a woman who works night shifts in the city morgue, [Please Note: there will be two film companies in the area this evening, one is Da Vinci’s Inquest and one is ours] who helps people who have already passed away by using her unique ability to relive the past day and alter events enough to be able to save them.

INT. NONDESCRIPT BLDG – AFTERNOON

Our character walks through a dingy hallway. She follows another Xeroxed sign that reads “Curse”, with an ARROW pointing down the hall. She must learn to accept both parts of herself. Outside she appears to be fine but inside she is slipping away…

EXT. CITY STREET:

An ancient myth is played out at night [at the gravel parking lot under the Main street overpass from Water Street to the dead end of Alley North] white lace boys cut briefs pretty kitty ears clear spike platform shoes w/ motion flashers in heels [ This light will shine in the alley ]

Murdered, in order to keep her silent [ to accommodate “picture continuity” ] an accidental discovery she made reborn [ there are NO simulated gunshots, no forced calls] now she must investigate the circumstances behind her murder

Dead Like Me

· We will film scenes of a woman walking into the Columbia hotel

The Invisible

· We will also film scenes of a woman crossing Cordova St.

Whisper

· Special effects fog will be used to simulate steam

No Stopping

· A waiting car parked at the curb in order to film her running

The Protégé

· Our scenes involve an actress running down the fire escape

at 55 Powell St.

Bionic woman

· Our actress will also stop a bus at the curb in front of 55 Powell St.

Saved

· Additionally we will have a shot from the West side of 100 Gore which involves a camera filming an actress coming out of the Pre-trial centre at the corner of Gore Ave. and Powell St.

The Evidence

· We will film a scene of a car pulling up on the north side of 100 Alexander St

The Twilight Zone

· She hides in the alley to evade the camera

The Dead Zone

· Later at night we will film a scene under the Main Street overpass

Conspiracy

· An actress running down the fire escape jumping onto the sidewalk and running away

DIALOGUE:

“You could take a little more time with your face, you know.”

KID # 1

What is she talking about?

LITTLE GIRL

No. I…oh god, please.

KID #2

(nerves showing)

I…I have no idea.

JACK

That’s the girl I saw in the cadaver’s memory.

Blade

· Our scenes along the 200 block Carrall St. involve an actress stopping beside a newsstand which will be placed near the entrance to Blood alley

Life or Something Like It

· Another of our actresses will enter a grocery store on the 200 block Carrall St.

Killer Instinct

· Another of our actresses at night at the gravel parking lot under the Main street overpass from Water St. to Alley North

Killing of a Stranger

· While our camera is rolling

They Wait

· Our character walks past a crowd of people

Blood Ties

Breeders

Sisters

White Chicks

[New Middle Aged Women x 18]

DIALOGUE:

“Shit…

Stacy never came home.”

Legacy 2010

2010-02-18T13:49:00.000-08:00

Madillah loped through the Olympian streets of Vancouver last night, making it as far as Robson Square before he was taken down by a swat team of 5 callow thugs from the VPD. The interrogation began with accusations of being a threat to the stability of the 'Family' and ended in a one-sided discussion about performance art. Ultimately, Madillah's gentle nature and noble intentions prevailed and he was allowed to scamper off into the night, bloodied but unbowed and determined to lope another day. Be on the lookout!

Forest

2010-02-03T15:41:00.000-08:00

The Wild Goose

2009-11-17T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Wild Goose is up and running as part of CologneOFF V, an on-line film festival initiated in Cologne. Please visit the festival and have a look, there's a lot of excellent work. My piece was completed earlier this year and it seems to be striking a cord out there; It was also included in the Videoholica International Video Art Festival in Varna, Bulgaria this August.

Here's the full length synopsis:

The Wild Goose is from a series of works called Hunt & Gather, which examine the real and imagined behaviours of human and animal populations as they both struggle to survive in an increasingly challenging and competitive global environment. Diminishing resources, disappearing eco systems, and the pandemic spread of disease between species is further straining the already fragile relationship between creatures sharing the planet. Despite the recent wave of “Eco –Awareness”, the covert battle for the last remaining scraps of habitat, food, and water is becoming increasingly violent and desperate. As our fate becomes more obviously entwined with the fate of other species, can we be sure that ‘we’ will be the ultimate survivors? The Wild Goose posits a reversal of the hierarchy which has placed humans at the top of the food chain. Humans will now reap what they have sown; peaceful co-existence can no longer be taken for granted. Sides must be taken, the lines have been drawn, and like it or not, the hunter has now become the hunted.

More than a feeling

2009-10-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

A recent video (see below), another project and a new blog

2009-10-22T19:15:00.000-07:00

"face book" is a silent, one minute video that was shown on monitors in the Toronto Subway system, this past September, as part of the Toronto Urban Film Festival. Here's the synopsis that ran alongside it :

On the fringes of the digital city are places where your status doesn’t get updated daily, your profile usually gets determined for you by others and the only photos of you that get posted are when you go missing. This film is for everyone who falls between the cracks of our social networking systems.

The video is a bit of a thumbnail sketch from a longer video called - Calculating 63 , which is a collaboration between myself and Leannej. Calculating 63 was created in response to the mainstream media’s handling of the disappearance of over 60 women from Vancouver's Downtown Eastside. Both videos examine the links between poverty, exploitation and violence. It was while collecting the footage for both pieces that I developed the notions for my newest project.

Evergreen is a series of 26 site specific installations that I've just started working on and I've created a new blogsite to go with it - evergreen26.blogspot.com. The blog will be a sort of working diary of the project and once I start installing the pieces (sometime in late autumn), I'll use it to map out their locations. I'm gonna be pretty busy with Evergreen for the next couple of months, so please visit me at the evergreen site for updates and more info.

face book

2009-10-22T18:40:00.000-07:00

Cut / Paste: studio images 99-09

2009-08-13T11:04:00.000-07:00

Hey!

2009-08-13T11:03:00.000-07:00

Cut

2009-08-13T11:02:00.000-07:00

Crushed

2009-08-13T11:01:00.000-07:00

It

2009-08-13T11:00:00.000-07:00

Krafty

2009-08-13T10:59:00.000-07:00

Out

2009-08-13T10:58:00.000-07:00

Gaze

2009-08-13T10:57:00.002-07:00

Mixed Up

2009-08-13T10:57:00.001-07:00

Speaks

2009-08-13T10:56:00.001-07:00

Sleeper

2009-08-13T10:55:00.001-07:00

Snippet

2009-08-13T10:54:00.000-07:00

Listen To Me

2009-08-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Bedtime Story

2009-07-16T11:07:00.001-07:00

Once...

2009-07-16T11:05:00.000-07:00

Sleep

2009-07-16T11:04:00.000-07:00

Riddle

2009-07-16T11:03:00.000-07:00

Voice

2009-07-16T11:02:00.000-07:00

Giant

2009-07-16T11:00:00.000-07:00

Princess

2009-07-16T10:58:00.000-07:00

Flower

2009-07-16T10:57:00.000-07:00

Cloak

2009-07-16T10:55:00.000-07:00

Sidekick

2009-07-16T10:52:00.000-07:00

Creature

2009-07-16T10:50:00.000-07:00

Phoenix

2009-07-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Message

2009-07-16T10:45:00.000-07:00

Magic

2009-07-16T10:44:00.000-07:00

Escape

2009-07-16T10:42:00.000-07:00

Ever...

2009-07-16T10:40:00.001-07:00

Fable: True stories from the DTES

2009-04-23T11:22:00.001-07:00

Siege

2009-04-23T11:21:00.001-07:00

Pennant

2009-04-23T11:20:00.001-07:00

Shield

2009-04-23T11:19:00.001-07:00

Abergement

2009-04-23T11:18:00.000-07:00

Moat

2009-04-23T11:17:00.000-07:00

Festoon

2009-04-09T17:52:00.000-07:00

Snow White

2009-04-09T17:51:00.000-07:00

Evergreen

2009-04-09T17:50:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Beauty

2009-04-09T17:49:00.000-07:00

Cinderella

2009-04-09T17:46:00.000-07:00

Garland

2009-04-09T17:45:00.000-07:00

Maille

2009-04-09T17:44:00.000-07:00

Gauntlet

2009-04-09T17:43:00.000-07:00

Portcullis

2009-04-09T17:42:00.000-07:00

Palisade

2009-04-09T17:41:00.000-07:00

Keep (detail)

2009-04-09T17:37:00.002-07:00

Rapunzel

2009-04-09T17:37:00.001-07:00

Escalade

2009-04-09T17:35:00.000-07:00

Allure

2009-04-09T17:34:00.000-07:00

Damsel1

2009-04-09T17:33:00.000-07:00

Oubliette

2009-04-09T17:32:00.000-07:00

Lists

2009-04-09T17:30:00.000-07:00

Quest

2009-04-09T17:29:00.000-07:00

Damsel 2

2009-04-09T17:28:00.000-07:00

Rune

2009-04-09T17:27:00.000-07:00

Legend

2009-04-09T17:26:00.000-07:00

Damsel 3

2009-04-09T17:24:00.000-07:00

Scheherezade

2009-04-09T17:22:00.000-07:00

Continuity

2009-03-02T11:01:00.000-08:00

Lurk: a preview

2008-09-10T19:35:00.000-07:00

In July 2007, 250 years after the birth of Captain George Vancouver in King’s Lynn, England, four contemporary artists from his namesake city in Canada were featured in an exhibition called Vancouver insight, hosted by the King’s Lynn Art’s Centre.
One week before the opening of the exhibition a strange creature appeared on the quay.

The beast was rumoured to be a legendary feral human, unearthed during excavations in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver, once the poorest postal code in Canada and now the sight of a controversial re-development scheme.Transported through time and space, to the shores that the explorer had set sail from, the creature was presumed to be searching for answers to Vancouver’s past or perhaps, clues to it’s future.

For a little over a week the creature was witnessed haunting the quay, loping down side streets and lurching through crowds in King’s Lynn’s busy pedestrian malls. Just as suddenly as it appeared, it was gone.

A mythical beast trying to make sense of history, place, time and being. His name was Madillah.

Lurk is a quicktime preview of the full length video that documents Madillah as he moves throughout the town and into a few unexpected places. Be on the lookout for more.

Lurk

2008-09-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

Maps & Legends

2008-04-18T11:33:00.000-07:00

2008-04-18T11:31:00.000-07:00

You have asked me for the story or rather the legend of Madillah, I am going to tell you in my own way based from what I have been told or heard. It is as authentic as I can make it, thusly I have spoken…

In sunshine or shade I am …there are many things I cannot say due to the fact that you lose the beauty of the language…

I could close my eyes, live over these days when life was just one round of endless wandering…

This is a story that is modern in its scope as compared to the rest…

I want to tell what my so-called god did to him when I left him at the grave that night. He dug him out and then started to flay me. I died first. He died the second time. It was very hard for me, but what could I do? He was his god and I belonged to him. He skinned him and saved the skin. It is now drying, and as soon as it dries, then he will breathe into it and it will become my form...

Though some others have different version than I have, it is all about the same in substance…

2008-04-18T11:30:00.000-07:00

I am writing again to continue our legend of the origin of Madillah, starting from the last letter it goes like this…

I hope I have made this clear for your information…

…in all this is the substance of the legend of the origin of Madillah. If it is not written or recorded, it is bound to be lost or forgotten, soon or later…

I am sorry not to tell the whole legend , but it will give you an idea anyway…

Thus was the beginning of this person who had departed this world to come back and live like one of the animals…

I do this for you...

Now here is where my knowledge is vague, this is about all I can tell I am not allowed to tell more…

2008-04-18T11:29:00.000-07:00

Another thing, Madillah is one matter seldom ever under discussion by any person, such is the belief of his potency and restriction…

This happened to me, but I have kept it a secret, as I was afraid people would misunderstand me and call me a liar…

I trust this legend will enlighten you again to his mysterious habits and ceremonies...

Well, this is about all I can relate about this little discussed subject and I feel guilty in doing even so, but I tell you these things because you want to know him more and are sincere about all you do…

2008-04-18T11:28:00.000-07:00

Thus was the beginning of Madillah and the end of my story…

I have spoken…

2008-04-18T11:27:00.000-07:00

2008-04-18T11:18:00.000-07:00

The above fragments are all that remains from a packet of letters found amongst the personal effects of “Gimpy” John Dawson, a colleague of the famous “Gassy Jack”. The letters are believed to represent a series of correspondences between Dawson and an unknown story teller of the Musqueum tribe. It is unclear who the actual author is, but it would appear to be the latter, although this has never been verified. Dawson was for a number of years Gassy Jack’s right hand man and appears to have been a close confidant. It has always been assumed that the letters related a series of Indian tales and legends and that perhaps Dawson and Jack were looking to publish a book on Indian lore. These re-tellings of Native stories were popular with visiting Europeans eager to be thrilled by an exotic and primitive culture that they assumed to be disappearing before their very eyes. It is very likely that Dawson may have indeed been engaged in preparing such a book, although no record can be found of its completion.

2008-04-18T11:17:00.000-07:00

But for the curious name which is repeated throughout the fragments - “Madillah”, the letters might have been discarded, however, the amateur anthropologist and early Indian enthusiast William Robson Fitzpatrick wondered that it might be a reference to an unknown Musqueum mythic figure or some personage from one of the tribal secret societies. His journals mention no success in discovering any such figure and the letters were subsequently lost for many years amongst the papers and artifacts of his collection, which upon his death were bequeathed to the Vancouver Historical Society. It was not until 1985 that the fragmented letters were fully examined and catalogued and even then there was little significance attached to them. The curious name of Madillah was noted, but no attempt was made to further investigate the origins of the mysterious figure.

2008-04-18T11:16:00.000-07:00

In the winter of 1991, a fire on the edge of Gastown gutted one of the old hotels along Hastings Street. The Fitzpatrick Building had been built in 1889 by Charles Dobson Fitzpatrick (the elder brother of William) and had served variously as a warehouse, lodging house, saloon, furriers, loggers supply store and eventually a low rent hotel. The burnt out building remained vacant and boarded up for sometime before scavengers and vagrants cleared a path inside. One such scavenger, pulling out cast iron pipe from between the walls of the basement area broke through into what appeared to be a small sealed brick chamber. Inside were boxes of papers and photographs as well as a number of old bottles and plates. While selling the bottles and plates to a local antique dealer the scavenger mentioned the remaining articles and the antique dealer thinking there might be something of historical value within the papers, paid the scavenger $5 a box to haul the rest of the chambers contents to the store. What appeared to be boxes of old junk to the scavenger turned out to be a treasure trove of historical items belonging to Vancouver’s most famous character “Gassy Jack”.

2008-04-18T11:13:00.000-07:00

Many of the papers were receipts and bills from concerning the operation of his saloon and various businesses, but one box in particular seemed to pertain more to his personal life. The dealer contacted the historical society, who were immediately interested and agreed to purchase the complete contents of the chamber.

It was indeed the personal effects that proved to be most valuable.

2008-04-18T11:12:00.000-07:00

Letters from jack to his relatives were found; a personal diary with many pithy observations about the town and its characters and most fascinating of all, a large tin filled with photographs. It was the task of Cecilia Brooks, a volunteer researching with the historical society to assign a number to each photo and transcribe a record of any dates or text written on the back of the picture. It was a name on the back of photograph # 8745336, that jumped out at Ms. Brooks, a name she had read somewhere before and wondered about. She turned the picture over and looked closely…

2008-04-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

The photograph dated 1882 showed three figures, two male figures and one female. The photograph was faded and had been grainy to start with, but it was apparent that the two men pictured were none other than Gassy Jack and Gimpy John Dawson. The female figure is believed to have been Dawson’s Indian wife who was called Lily and she is holding in her arms what looks to be a Bear cub, bundled up in a blanket like a child.

2008-04-18T11:07:00.000-07:00

It was not uncommon in those days for pioneers to try and tame the wild creatures around them and in fact Gimpy Dawson was once the part owner of a wild animal exhibition which was due to go on a tour to England and Continental Europe.
The “Fierce and Wonderful Wild Beasts of Canada Exhibition” was another scheme of Dawson’s that ended in failure. He had begun by collecting young animals from Native traders and prospectors and raising them in sheds behind the saloon of Gassy Jack. His attempts at taming the animals enough to handle and display them however, were for the most part unsuccessful and he appears to have abandoned the scheme and most of the half- wild animals to their fate, although he was known to have kept a pet crow for a number of years.

2008-04-18T11:03:00.000-07:00

Cecilia Brooks remembered all this while looking at the photograph of Dawson and Jack and Lily and having been involved in cataloguing the estate of W.R. Fitzpatrick she also remembered where she had seen that other name, jotted down on the back of photograph #8745336. The name that apparently referred to the small bundled bear cub in Lily’s arm, the name of – Madillah.

SmallTown Boy

2007-10-30T22:16:00.002-07:00

Welcome To The Jungle

2007-10-30T22:16:00.001-07:00

Open Up And Say Ahh...

2007-10-30T22:10:00.000-07:00

Bella Donna

2007-10-30T22:06:00.000-07:00

Cool

2007-10-30T22:04:00.000-07:00

Get Lost

2007-10-30T21:37:00.000-07:00

Stage Left

2007-10-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Birdy

2007-10-30T11:28:00.000-07:00

Crush

2007-10-30T11:27:00.000-07:00