2003 / Chiasma, LIVE Biennial of Performance Art Festival, grunt gallery, Vancouver, BC
Belmore’s video collage addresses issues of homelessness, poverty, and hunger in the midst of a thriving and prosperous city. The title refers to a temporary city of tents erected by Vancouver’s homeless in protest to welfare cuts and regulations designed to further marginalize the poor. Actions such as collecting bottles, washing feet, and ripping open packets of ketchup to pour on french fries spread in the mud take on ritual significance as they are juxtaposed with scenes of the tents and reflections of the city in pools of muddy water. At the edge of the tent city is a sign that declares to the world, “This is the other Canada The poor, now in your face!”
Daina Warren, Tent City, grunt gallery, 2006
Photo credit: Merle Addison / grunt gallery
