Description

Vancouver Chromes

Vancouver Chromes is a series of previously unpublished colour street photographs taken by Davenant over a period of two years. Chromes challenges the ‘chocolate box tourism’ view of Vancouver which it presents to the world, and looks behind that to the reality of a city which contains the wealthiest and poorest districts in Canada within five minutes of each other. Single Room Occupancy hotels, dive bars, alleys which look like scenes from a 1970s US crime drama, “the great shipwreck of humanity.” Chromes provides a different perspective on a city which regularly ranks as one of the best cities in the world for quality of life.

“Vancouver is first and foremost a city of contrasts. Wealth is apparent everywhere. It reflects from the shiny glass towers and twinkles in the headlights of supercars as they roar down city streets at night, it creeps out from the restaurants and winks at you from the yachts at anchor in Coal Harbour. You hear it in the buzz of the float planes on their way to the resorts like Whistler and in the hum of the ‘great and the good’ as they enjoy the theatre or the art gallery. There is, however, another side to this place…“  

Most of the images are archival and have never been published. Some of the scenes depicted are no longer there due to closures, fires, demolition or redevelopment.

44 pages with 42 photographs Size 21 x 15cm