Catch + Release in Steveston

Amidst the reading and writing that has consumed my life, in addition to my Facebook project, I managed to get out of the house yesterday!

I went to see an exhibition on display at the Gulf of Georgia Cannery National Historic Site, out in Steveston (for those not on the west coast, it’s about 15 km south of Vancouver). Steveston is a small fishing village that attracts many tourists for its waterfront and quaintness, yet, similar to Richmond, has underwent a lot of changes over the years when its farmland was converted into a residential suburb. Until yesterday, I didn’t really know anything about Steveston’s history as a salmon canning centre. The salmon cannery now functions as a museum on a historic site. You can look through the cannery’s website for some information and this slideshow on the Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC) website, but of course it’s not the same as going there in person. Personal contact with objects in a museum can enrich the experience of learning historical information. However, museum displays can frame knowledge in a certain way that might prevent us from really understanding the history of a place and its people. Art can often represent historical narratives in a way that allows participants to enter into the conversation.

Catch + Release is the name of the current art exhibition in the cannery, created by Ruth Beer in collaboration with Kit Grauer and Jim Budd. The artwork is physically separated from the forms and