In the winter and spring of 2016, six students from the School for the Contemporary Arts (SCA) worked with the Capture Photography Festival on their Canada Line Public Art Project, titled Lying Stills: Constructing Truth with Photography. Organized between Meredith Preuss, Program Director of Capture, and Kevin Day, Professional Development Advisor of SCA, and supervised by SCA faculty Dr. Denise Oleksijczuk, the students undertook two curatorial projects where they had to curate photographic works for two Skytrain stations, in partnership with the Canada Line Public Art Program, InTransit BC.

Divided into two teams and in consultation with the Capture team, the students proposed their curatorial conceit and approached the artists they would like to work with in order to create the project. The teams were also responsible for communicating with other stakeholders such as the printers and installers. In its third year, the Capture Photography Festival is a city-wide photography event, involving numerous galleries in Vancouver, and several public art projects. In addition to the SCA students, renowned galleries and curators such as Presentation House Gallery and the Contemporary Art Gallery curated some of the other stations along Canada Line as well.

"Working with a festival was very valuable, as art festivals become more prominent ways of displaying art with the public."

Abbey Hopkins, one of the SCA students who was part of the project, wrote of her experience working with Capture: “In curating for Capture Photography Festival, we were given the opportunity to choose artists whose work interested us and challenged the notion of truth and storytelling in photography. We worked in groups to choose artists and worked with Capture to print and install the images. An experience working with a festival was very valuable, as art festivals become more prominent ways of displaying art with the public.”

Lucien Durey’s Hamsterley Farm Water Tower at the Marine Drive Station was curated by Lauren Lavery, Abbey Hopkins, and Jorma Kujala. And David Ellingsen’s Weather Patterns I at the Broadway City Hall Station was curated by Alexandra Best, Daniella Donati, and Solana Rompre. The photographs are on view from April to September 2016. 

For more information on the works and the curatorial statements, please visit the Capture Photography Festival website.