The Hope in Shadows book will be launched on April 24 at Gallery Gachet.

Hope in Shadows book launch next week

Vancouver, April 16, 2008

The hopes and dreams of the people behind the beautiful photographs that come from the annual photography contest are the focus of the new Hope in Shadows book to be launched at Gallery Gachet next Thursday evening.

Published by Vancouver-based Arsenal Pulp Press, and edited by Brad Cran and Gillian Jerome, the book focuses on the lives of 33 people who took winning photographs in the annual Downtown Eastside photography contest run by Pivot Legal Society.

The authors, Cran and Jerome, interviewed winners from the contest's first five years, resulting in a coffee-table book which not only tells the stories of the photographers in their own words, but has beautiful reproductions of their photographs.

Just as with the Hope in Shadows calendar, the book will create much needed income for residents of the Downtown Eastide. Local people will be able to sell the book and keep 50 % of the sale price. Individuals whose stories are featured in the book also will receive the royalties from book sales.

"The strength of the annual photography contest is the benefit it provides to the local people in the Downtown Eastside," says Paul Ryan, director of Hope in Shadows. Whether it is having a winning photograph exhibited in a gallery, or having their story published, or earning income "'Hope in Shadows' really means 'Empowerment and Confidence.'"

The book launch will be held at Gallery Gachet (88 E. Cordova) and will feature some of the original images from the original exhibitions from the past five years. Local MP Libby Davies will address the opening along, with Pivot Legal Society executive director John Richardson. The authors as well as many of the subjects in  the book will be there to talk about their experience. 

Half of the books printed will be available for purchase by local residents for $10, who will then be able to sell it for $20, in the same way the annual Hope in Shadows calendar is sold. The remaining half of the books will be sold in bookstores across Canada by Arsenal Pulp Press. 

We look forward to seeing you at the Hope in Shadows book launch:

Gallery Gachet (88 E. Cordova) – Thursday, April 24, 7 p.m.

For more information contact:                            
Paul Ryan, Publicatons Manager, Pivot Legal Society, tel. 604 782 2861 or Janice Beley, Co-Marketing Director, Arsenal Pulp Press, tel. 604 687 4233.

Read this article from the Province.

View the 2007 exhibition

See the 2008 calendar