In collaboration with the Vancouver Aquarium School Programs and Qmunity’s Youth Project, Sad Mag hosted The Sea Legs pinhole photography workshop on June 20, 2012, in an effort to connect queer youth with Vancouver artists in a safe space. The ocean composes most of the earth’s surface and the majority of life on the planet. We often anthromorphize animals, talking about genders and reproduction calling a barnacle he or she, but we must remind ourselves that these animals are beautiful without visible gender. We can’t normalize the ocean based on human assumptions. These animals are diverse, successful and most of them have no visible difference between male and female or no gender at all. The theme of the workshop was focused on the education/preservation of local sea life and of traditional photography as a fine art form.
Using old boxes from the gift shop, juice bottle lids, pop cans, expired film, and used film canisters, participants constructed pinhole cameras to photograph sea creatures in the educational wet lab. Aquarium volunteers provided education on the various specimens native to the Vancouver shoreline, while participants had a chance to handle some of the sea creatures before photographing them. Sad Mag’s Editor in Chief, Creative Director, Designer, and Photographers worked with participants at photo-stations (which were professionally lit by the amazing Jonathan Wong). Select images from the workshop have been published in the VANIMAUX issue and many more will be displayed at the issue launch exhibition, Vanimaux II, opening on August 2, 2012 at 7:00pm at the Gam Gallery (110 E.Hastings St). The images range from purple tentacles, to abstract interpretations of hermit crabs, urchins, and anemones. Intensely colored, soft and dreamy, these are experimental 35 mm film photographs by:
William Flett
Kiesha Janvier
Theodore Lake
Esther Lemieux
Calvin Ling
Vinson Ng
Jaedyn Starr
Check out a few of their amazing images below:
