Aesthetic interventions as investigations into land theft, ecosystem erasure, real estate speculation, hazards, and resurgence for the Skwácháy̓s neighbourhood of central Vancouver
Looking south along Thornton Street just south of Prior Street, this was the east side of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south to Thornton Park and the location of the 1916-17 national train station that still operates today (see upper left of the image). South of the train station was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9881Moving south along Station Street, this is a view of the northern end of Thornton Park from near the corner of Station Street and National Avenue. The 1916-17 national train station that still operates today is in the upper left. To the right (west) is Main Street that was an extended bridge a century called Westminster Road (connecting to the south with Kings Way). South of the train station was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’) which is roughly in the location of the conifer tree in the centre of the image and the overhead Skytrain line. Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9905 This old cherry tree, at Station Street and National Avenue, was planted soon after the destruction of the marine ecosystems of Skwácháy̓s when saltwater was kept from intruding into this area that was barely above the high tide line on the east side of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south through Thornton Park to KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies and saltwater in the soil could kill street trees. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9863
In this view from the west side of Trilliam Park looking west, is the construction site f or the north-eastern portion of the new St. Paul’s Hospital that broke ground this week. We can see the depths of the marine portions of the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. Relatively close to the edge of today’s False Creek, much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. A century ago, the tidal and marine areas of Skwácháy̓s were filled with garbage and unconsolidated material that may not stand a major earthquake. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9829Looking north from National Avenue to the construction site for the new St. Paul’s Hospital pre-1919 that were the depths of the marine portions of the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. Relatively close to the edge of today’s False Creek, much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. A century ago, the tidal and marine areas of Skwácháy̓s were filled with garbage and unconsolidated material that may not stand a major earthquake. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9845 Looking north from National Avenue to the construction site for the new St. Paul’s Hospital with the North Shore mountains in the distance. Pre-1919, this area was in the depths of the marine portions of the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. Relatively close to the edge of today’s False Creek, much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. A century ago, the tidal and marine areas of Skwácháy̓s were filled with garbage and unconsolidated material that may not stand a major earthquake. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9851
Looking north from National Avenue to the construction site for the new St. Paul’s Hospital. There is a recently erected sign celebrating the beginning the construction of the hospital with modern buildings in Chinatown in the background. Pre-1919, this area comprising this massive construction site was in the depths of the marine portions of the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. Relatively close to the edge of today’s False Creek, much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. A century ago, the tidal and marine areas of Skwácháy̓s were filled with garbage and unconsolidated material that may not stand a major earthquake. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9858Looking east from Station Street, we can see the depths of once was the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. This expanse is part of the construction site for the north-western portion of the new St. Paul’s Hospital that broke ground this week. The white tents were for the ground-breaking celebrations. The sites on the other side of the fence were part of the historic tidal flats with much of the area portrayed across the horizon, largely marine inlet. Where this image was taken was roughly along the east shore of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south to Thornton Park and the location of the 1916-17 national train station that still operates today. South of this point was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9866 Looking east from Station Street, we can see the depths of once was the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. This expanse is part of the construction site for the north-western portion of the new St. Paul’s Hospital that broke ground this week. Where this image was taken was roughly along the east shore of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south to Thornton Park and the location of the 1916-17 national train station that still operates today. South of this point was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9869 Looking east from Station Street near the corner with Prior Street, we can see the depths of once was the north-west of Skwácháy̓s. In the upper left is Prior Street and north of it the Georgia Viaduct. This expanse is part of the construction site for the north-western portion of the new St. Paul’s Hospital that broke ground this week. The sites on the other side of the fence were part of the historic tidal flats with much of the area portrayed across the horizon. Where this image was taken was roughly along the east shore of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south to Thornton Park and the location of the 1916-17 national train station that still operates today. South of this point was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9875 Looking south from Prior Street, just east of Station Street, we can see the depths of once was the north-west of historic Skwácháy̓s. This expanse is part of the construction site for the north-western portion of the new St. Paul’s Hospital that broke ground this week. The white tents were for the ground-breaking celebrations. The national train station, constructed in 1916-17, is on the horizon. The sites on the other side of the fence were part of the historic tidal flats with much of the area portrayed across the horizon, largely marine inlet. Where this image was taken was roughly along the east shore of the point that connected north to Chinatown and that extended south to Thornton Park and the location of the 1916-17 national train station that still operates today. South of this point was a passage of water called KIWAHUSKS (‘two points opposite’). Much of this area is below sea level or will be in the coming decades as marine intrusion intensifies. 2021 March 11 * 1P3A9898
This old beach house at the corner of Atlantic Street and Malkin Avenue was built along the north-western shore of Skwácháy̓s decades before the beach and inlet were obliterated in the demographic chaos after World War I. The roaring twenties and Jazz were only partial consolation for the heartbreak from the loss of the beach and sea. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9815
The north-western shore of Skwácháy̓s along the west side of Crabapple Point got steep near the end of the point. Today, the slope above the high tide line directly below Atlantic Street and Princess Avenue is being re-enforced just above Malkin Avenue. 2021 March 10 Skwácháy̓s 1P3A9811This lost toy is at the north end of Trillium Park near the playground. This area is roughly at the low-tide line of the tidal flats Skwácháy̓s. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9817This view from the north-western side of Trillum Park looking west was below the low tide line of Skwácháy̓s and would have been an entirely marine estuary. Today the view is into the construction of the north-eastern side of the construction site for the new version of St. Paul’s Hospital. This area was nearly all marine with some tidal flats closer to Prior Street and was filled with garbage and poorly consolidated material. Most of these sites are below sea level or will be in the coming decades. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9825This view from the north-western side of Trillum Park looking west was below the low tide line of Skwácháy̓s and would have been an entirely marine estuary. Today the view is into the construction of the north-eastern side of the construction site for the new version of St. Paul’s Hospital. This area was nearly all marine with some tidal flats closer to Prior Street and was filled with garbage and poorly consolidated material. Most of these sites are below sea level or will be in the coming decades. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9832At the east side of the corner of Thornton Street and Malkin Avenue that a century ago was tidal flats along the north-western shore of Skwácháy̓s, there are warehouses and an installation by artist Ken Lum. There is also informal art such as ‘you’ spray-painted on a rock. Most of these sites are below sea level or will be in the coming decades. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9812 This blooming mustard is at the east side of the corner of Thornton Street and Malkin Avenue that a century ago was tidal flats along the north-western shore of Skwácháy̓s. Today, there are warehouses and an installation by artist Ken Lum. This site is nearly below sea level and will be below sea level in the coming decades. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9813This camper is parked on Thornton Street south of Malkin Avenue and provides crucial temporary housing especially for a city with severe real estate speculation and a resulting housing shortage along with gentrification and relatively low wages in the service sector. This site is below sea level. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9838This yarrow, Achillea millefolium, along National Street just east of Malkin Avenue, is an important traditional medicinal for the owners and guardians of this territory, the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ / Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. That this circumpolar herb, most common around the North Pacific, is one of the few traditionally used plants that can colonize this toxic soil is an important indicator. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9804 This yarrow, Achillea millefolium, along National Street just east of Malkin Avenue looking north, is an important traditional medicinal for the owners and guardians of this territory, the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations. That this circumpolar herb, most common around the North Pacific, is one of the few traditionally used plants that can colonize this toxic soil is an important indicator. 2021 March 10 * 1P3A9806
On a grey winter day, the view through the fence of the recently uncovered beach, that lined the south-western side of Skwácháy̓s, was unmistakable and breathtaking. A bit more than a century ago, there were beach-houses just above below what today is East 2nd Avenue. Today this pit contains a lot of water and is below current and projected sea levels.
Looking north, across Skwácháy̓s, from East 1st and Thornton, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9727The beach at low-tide on the south-west shore of Skwácháy̓s looking north from Thornton and East 1st, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9726 Looking north, across Skwácháy̓s, and into the excavated beach from east of East 1st and Scotia, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9727Look west across what was once the south-western shore of Skwácháy̓s from Thornton below East 1st, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9701 Looking west, from Thornton below East 1st, down into the excavated beach on the south-western shore of Skwácháy̓s, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9703Looking west, from Thornton below East 1st, down into the excavated beach on the south-western shore of Skwácháy̓s, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9708Beyond low tide below the south-western shore Skwácháy̓s: a building on the other side of the most northerly tracks across from the north end of Thornton, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9725 Looking north across Skwácháy̓s from East 2nd east of Scotia with the street just above the historic high tide line of Skwácháy̓s, 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9699 Water from the excavated beach along the south-western shore of Skwácháy̓s being directed into storm drainage on East 1st east of Scotia (Creek), 2021 February 19 * 1P3A9733
April 8 – May 24, 2019 still underwater 1: traces, pronunciations, recollections
September 16 – November 2, 2019 still underwater 2: flooding resurgence recovery
organized by
still underwater: Tracing Skwahchays, Hole in Bottom, in today’s False Creek Flats
The former inlet and salt marshes bounded today by Vancouver’s Union, Clark, Great Northern Way, and Main Street were once known as False Creek East, and more previously by Salish communities as what might roughly be translated as hole-in-bottom, or, Skwahchays. In the centennial years of the filling and destruction of hole-in-bottom, PLOT invites the land art collective ḴEXMIN field station* to initiate new research, field trips, monitoring, test sites, public conversations, screenings, ceremonies, performances, interventions, and proposals. In various periods over the next three years, still underwater will explore new forms of decolonial land art based on emergent protocols in acknowledging a wider range of territorial, linguistic, cultural, and historical concerns, as well as emerging relationships, alliances, and communalities.
At the core of still underwater are a series of questions about new opportunities for environmental, site-based, and public art on the Pacific North-West coast: How can artists, curators and audiences—with a wide range of heritages—engage fully around unceded land and sites, with respect and support towards the rapidly evolving cultural, political, and legal protocols of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) nations? For indigenous artists, what does it mean to have a heritage and political entitlement around unceded sites such as ‘hole-in-bottom’? On the seismically-vulnerable terrain of ‘hole-in bottom’, how can site-based artistic interventions and permanent public art works hold transformative roles within its ‘redeveloping’ neighbourhoods, where new construction seems inevitable despite its geological instability?
This event is held on the unceded territory of the sḵwx̱wú7mesh, sel̓íl̓witulh, & xʷməθkʷəy̓əm nations.
ḴEXMIN field station* is a loose collective of indigenous and non-indigenous site-based artists, environmental researchers, scientists, and designers focused on the waters, shores and islands of the Salish Sea. Currently located on Salt Spring Island, the field station exists as a research, learning and experimentation space to nurture conversations spanning traditional indigenous knowledge, modern science, and contemporary culture. Individuals currently contributing to ‘still underwater’ include Musqueam weaver and public artist Debra Sparrow, Salish curator Rose Spahan, Métis public artist and environmental scientist Gordon Brent Brochu-Ingram (currently coordinating the 2019 events at PLOT), public artist and designer Alex Grünenfelder, ecological designer and public artist Oliver Kellhammer, and Sharon Kallis a community engaged environmental artist.
*The ‘Ḵ’ in KEXMIN is underlined where possible [but not possible in the current version of WordPress] and represents a distinctive sound and letter in the SENĆOŦEN language – one of the more than a score of Salish languages.
Event listings and documentation will be posted below
Much
of contemporary culture in Vancouver, and other parts of Canada, is about
territorial acknowledgement: out of consideration as sensitive members of multicultural
communities, as part of commitments to decolonization and conciliation, in
respect for new inter-governmental protocols, and as creative practices that
foster dialogue and collaboration.
This project, on SKWA-CHICE “deep hole in water” | “hole in bottom” | False Creek East, is grounded in the territorial acknowledgement of our current host and partner in Vancouver, Access Gallery:
“With gratitude as guests, Access is located on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations.”
This
kind of territorial acknowledgement from a cultural organization nurtures a
diversifying set of inter-cultural and political conversations.
While
many people were hurt by the destruction of “deep hole in water,” a
large portion of respective governments,
organizations and individuals, who cared about these losses at the time, were
indigenous. But since the latter decades of the twentieth century, the
benefits to settlers and non-indigenous
Canadians from indigenous erasure and the neocolonialism, that ignored
indigenous governments and demographics, have largely expired. For most
Canadians, the lack of real conciliation and basic contact with First Nations
governments and civil organizations is a real drag: economically, socially, and
culturally. Indigenous erasure in public space and landscapes increasingly
undermines long-term social solidarity and the integrity of community-based
cultural production.
While
‘white privilege’ continues to be a significant source of inequity, all
Canadians benefit from ongoing political and cultural conversations about
indigeneity. And relationships to indigeneity are simple: having at least one
indigenous parent who lives that identity in some way or not. There are no
choices with indigeneity, the choices are with the depth of acknowledgment and
engagement with respective intercultural inequities and taking the
opportunities for expanded dialogue.
Today,
a broader spectrum of Vancouver’s communities see the damage that was done,
with the destruction of “deep hole in water,” and are learning and
experimenting with evolving protocols and intercultural practices to
acknowledge multiple owners, stewards, cultural economies, and modes of
creative production. In order to parse the 19th and 20th Century conflation of
the diverse indigenous territorial and governmental relationships, languages,
and cultures that lead to the erasure of “deep hole in water,” a few activist
principles can guide our excavations, interventions, reconstructions, and
restorations:
1.
acknowledge and learn from “deep hole in water” as part of the
communities of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and
Tsleil-Waututh First Nations and treat
these relationships as ongoing, in present and future tenses;
2.
acknowledge and learn from the three indigenous languages spoken in “deep
hole in water”: Musqueam Halkomelem / hunq’umin’um’
/ hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓; Squamish / Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim, sníchim; and
Chinook;
3.
as a core tenet of conciliation, treat First Nations as sovereign governments
with shifting and ongoing responsibilities for stewardship of territory
(including “deep hole in water”);
4.
support treaty and other forms of inter-government negotiation lead by First
Nations;
5.
support organizations that give voice to indigenous elders and youth;
6.
explore a range of experiences of personal and familial loss extending to the
historical and contemporary losses of most indigenous families living around
“deep hole in water”;
7.
make art and design that functions to spark intercultural conversations and be
prepared to face critical responses, admit mistakes, and build ongoing
personal, inter-family, and institutional relationships for indefinite
collaborations;
8.
work with First Nations language offices: spelling is important as the written
forms of Musqueam Halkomelem / hunq’umin’um’
/ hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓; Squamish / Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim, sníchim; and
Chinook continue to evolve;
9.
engage proactively around possible appropriation: there are plenty of good ways
to reference and pay homage to indigenous artists without ripping them off; and
10.
a good way to bridge the gaps from divergent relationships to historical and
contemporary trauma is to make, perform, and experience site-based, multimedia
art centred on territorial acknowledgements.
Nobody
knows what shared sovereignty means when involving the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations
along with the government of the City of Vancouver, Province of British
Columbia, and Government of Canada and the real estate interests claiming to
continue to ‘own’ deep hole in water.” The possibilities for moving
forward will depend on the new forms imagined through contemporary and
traditional culture, possibilities that emerge from collaborations such as
“still underwater.”
This image was taken off of Google Earth in mid-2019. Processed with some intensified saturation, this low-lying area, increasingly below sea level, remains a largely ‘undeveloped’ neighbourhood increasingly fobbed off to artists, artisanal manufacturers, and a range of demographics desperate for housing.
The revised projections for sea level rise in central Vancouver reconfirm that Skwácháy̓s (the inlet and tidal flats once called False Creek East), that were destroyed with loose garbage and dirt in 1917-23 to become False Creek Flats, will, in the not-so-distant future, become marine and estuarine again.
The village closest to Skwácháy̓s was Sen̓áḵw a kilometre further west near the mouth of False Creek. The depopulation of Skwácháy̓s was part of forced removal of the communities and land management regimens of the three First Nations (spanning two Salish languages) from what is today the City of Vancouver.
