Old shacks - new context
A few years ago I visited the shanty shacks at Finn Slough in Richmond. Finn Slough is a community that has approximately 30 residents who live in wooden houses, both floating and built on stilts, along the marshy riverbank of the Fraser River. Like many artists before me I became fascinated with the shacks that were made interesting by their aged, weathered sides, their maze of wooden support beams, ramshackle structures, their patchwork repairs, and with some, the fascinating collections of found objects that adorned their decks and walls. I wanted to find a way to capture the dilapidated beauty of the rugged cabins in a format where they could be appreciated as unique sculptural objects. I decided to photograph them and then change their context. I have found, in past photographic projects, that objects take on a whole new meaning when seen in isolation from their original context. I decided to extract the shacks from their native surroundings and place them in photographs of various spots in my condo. Seeing the cabins in their new environment has allowed me to study and reflect on their innate structures and weathered beauty and really appreciate them as unique works of art. This process brings to mind found art where a common object gains significance by being transported from it’s original environment to an art gallery setting where the artist gives people the time and a stage to contemplate the object.
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From another perspective, I have also always been fascinated with miniature worlds. Ever since I saw Charles Simonds’s miniature brick structures in New York back in the 70’s I became fascinated with miniature buildings and imagining the little people who inhabited them. As I look at my photographs I like to imagine tiny people coming out of their cabins, standing on their decks and being amazed as they take in the views of their new locations; the comfy back of a couch, the view of a soft carpet, or the smooth top of a desk.
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In moving the shacks to their new indoor environment I almost feel like a collector who has found an interesting object in nature, taken it home and displayed it on their mantle piece. It is the closest I can come to placing a 3 dimensional recreation of the cabin in my condo and appreciating it as a unique and interesting sculpture. Since photographing at Finns Slough I have added some shacks from other locations to my collection.