Contest Photos Hit the Streets

Massive Turnout for the 2010 Vote                               By Aylon Cohen, Intern 

Last week, The Hope in Shadows community began in the Downtown Eastside. We had established a tent for the local community to vote.

The local vote on the street was on the corner of Main and Hastings, and ran until Friday last week.

Every person passing by stopped to take a look at the wonderful photography. It's really amazing to see how many people will stand in the oppressive rain to show support for the project by voting for their favorite photos. As people crowded the tent on the sidewalk, I realize how much the simple display (8x 12 enlargements stuck to cardboard panels) makes the project all the more unique and impressive.

The Eastside has its very own culture, with artists roaming around selling artwork and plenty of galleries for individuals to visit. However, I feel as though Hope in Shadows completes the intersection between local (public) art and the gallery (private) building. Putting the photos on display on perhaps the most public corner of The Downtown Eastside (Main and Hastings) connects both artworld to the public world - an achievement unique to Hope in Shadows.

New travelling display

This year, there was a new feature added to the community voting process. After spending several days on the Main and Hastings corner, I realized that perhaps many people don't visit the Carnegie Centre or pass by this corner; later, I understood my thoughts were correct. I and a fellow intern, Jae Bong, constructed a mobile display and decided to pull it around the community to collect votes. 

The new Hope in Shadows cart was pulled around the community to solicit votes and drew large crowds.

 When we arrived at the women's centre, the women all came pouring out to chat about which women went to the centre and which was their favourite and cutest picture. We had originally planned to stay at the centre for 20 minutes, but were so overjoyed by the turnout from the centre, that we stayed for an extra hour! The centre proves that the mobile vote was a success and an continued aspect to Hope in Shadow's strive towards making the project as inclusive as possible.