ESSAY— 3892 Words
The Developer’s Art Gallery
For over thirty years, Vancouver has experienced a trend where the cultural value of public art has been overshadowed by its financial value in service of the development and real estate industries. Three public art pieces in particular— Spinning Chandelier, The Present is a Gift, and Leeside Skatepark— are meaningful case studies in examining the cultural discourse that is generated by developer-based public art in Vancouver. I analyze my personal interactions with these three artworks, each piece’s individual history, and relevant texts to discuss each piece’s symbolic role in Vancouver’s urban and cultural fabric.
ESSAY— 2585 Words
Ozymandias Land
The ghost town of Bombay Beach, California sits on the shore of a toxic lake in the desert, straddling the boundary between life and death. In recent years, it’s become the site of deep creative intrigue as artists from around the world visit the site as a space to build strange, otherworldly sculptures. Through artistic and historic analysis, I explore Bombay Beach as an absurdist monument to mid-century consumer culture, human ecological interference, and the collapse of the mythical “American Dream.”
TRAVEL JOURNAL— 1678 Words
No Risk, No Reward
A chance encounter with some friendly strangers at an abandoned mineshaft in the desert leads to one of the most extraordinary adventures of my entire life.
Ben's Lens 