This is Canada

Sarah Barbasch
Canada
2009

As part of my visual arts degree, Leeds University, England, I studied for one year in Vancouver, Canada. During this time my studio was in Downtown Eastside Vancouver, one of the poorest areas of Canada, where there are many homeless people with drug and health problems concentrated within just a few blocks. I noticed that most of the people who lived in this otherwise very affluent city were scared of these people and tried to ignore the situation they lived in.

I was driven to start talking to them and realized that there was a great spirit of community in the area and people were extremely responsive to me. I spent time talking to them and getting to know they’re stories and took photos of individuals I met. I wanted to represent people who were dismissed by their neighbors and give a voice to people who were not being listened to. By spending time with them I was able to produce images that reflected individuals and their personalities rather than the problems that surrounded them.

I then travelled across Canada and continued to go into the poorest areas of cities and talk to and photograph people I met, continually trying to get to know people as much as possible before photographing them. As I travelled, I also took photographs of the beautiful landscapes across the country. Then, when I returned to England, I decided to superimpose the contrasting images together.

The use of digital manipulation takes my subjects out of their natural environment, contrasting their stark, street reality with the open and expansive landscapes of the countryside. By displacing my subjects in this way, I attempt to explore and disrupt our understanding of the spaces and people around us, drawing to attention underlying aspects of social interaction in present day society

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