Sad Mag: Who are you?

Tim Rolls: Hi! I’m Tim Rolls, a passionate designer, instructor at Vancouver Film School, and founder of Art Not Ads. We’re a collective that works to make public space beautiful through installations and community projects.

SM: What is Captures about?

TR: Captures is about giving Mount Pleasant residents a chance to tell stories about their community through photographs. Each participant becomes a thread in a visual tapestry that shows the diversity of the neighbourhood. The exhibit allows visitors to create their own stories as they connect with the photos, and we hope it helps paint a better picture of what the community is about.

TR: After hearing about the Neighbourhood Small Grants program, I started researching communities, how they’re defined, and what really makes one. It seemed everyone had their own response, so it became the perfect subject to explore for the project. I went to college with Celia, and we’ve worked on one major project called Solstice, for the Illuminate Yaletown festival in 2011. I had worked with Matt in a studio capacity before, and when I told him about the project, he was eager to help in any way he could. All three of us had our own strengths that contributed to making this happen, and it was great to see it unfold that way.

TR: Our initial grant was through the Vancouver Foundation’s Neighbourhood small grants program. As the project evolved and grew, we got a print sponsor to help with the growing final production costs. They fell through at the last minute, so we turned to crowd funding through Indiegogo to make the project happen. The response was phenomenal, everyone was very supportive, we even had local blogs and publications helping to get the word out. We raised over $2100 in about 2 weeks, surpassing our goal.

TR: We wanted to give participants a starting point, to get them thinking about the things that make their community great. Even for myself if worked well, because the list would stick in my subconscious, and I’d see something while walking around and think “OH, that’s perfect!” I think that’s the fun part, like urban treasure hunting.

TR: We tried not to filter the images, these are other people’s ideas, and it was important not to censor them. There were a couple that we had to take out, due to being really low quality and hard to make out. I was definitely surprised by the number of bicycle photos… this community really loves their bikes!

TR: My secret spot, the climbing tree. It’s this enormous, beautiful old conifer on top of a hill. It looks normal from far away, but you can pull the branches apart and inside is a clearing where the branches are all worn smooth from years of climbing. About halfway up is a net installed like a hammock, where you can lay and see all of downtown and the whole north shore. It’s pretty magical.

TR: Captures grew so much from our initial concept, which was based around distributing disposable cameras to a small group of residents. It would be great to take it even further, maybe featuring entire cities. With the internet and digital photography being so ubiquitous, I’d love to see where we can go with it.

TR: I really love the work Alex Beim and his crew at Tangible Interaction are doing. They’re great guys, too. They did a temporary installation during the Olympics called “Seed of Truce” that allowed participants to write their thoughts on a “seed” that contained an LED light. The seeds were shot up into the air and fluttered down into a net, where they collected and grew as more people contributed. Like a modern wishing well of good intentions.

SM: Do you think Vancouver is No Fun City or is it a good home for creative people and communities?

TR: I moved here from Edmonton about 3 years ago, and it was definitely the creative communities and energy that drew me here. There is also a very money-driven, business oriented side to the city, but whatever you’re into artistically, there’s a community for it here if you look for it. Toss in the mountains and ocean for great energy and inspiration, and you have an amazing place for creative people to live.

Check out Captures, now exhibiting on the corner of Kingsway and E Broadway, across from Our Town!

To follow the work of Art Not Ads and get involved in their next project, find them on Twitter & Facebook