Richmond BC, Canada #richmondartgallerybc
One late afternoon in the autumn of 2014, amidst the bustling arterial No. 3 Road, Vancouver-based photographer Greg Girard captured a moment of serene stillness embodied by a solitary Asian man sitting on a street bench. The man’s legs are poised in half-lotus pose, and his hands form a sacred gesture invoking calm and contemplation. His face is warmed by sunlight, his bare feet touched by the coolness of the fall weather. This juxtaposition of a private meditative gesture conducted in public view struck Girard as an evidence of societal freedom: a man at liberty to immerse himself in religious ritual in the very heart of Richmond.
Many of Girard’s photographs depict cities as places where oppositional tensions are constantly negotiated. The work’s paradoxical title, Meditation, No. 3 Road, provides an entry point to many of these negotiations: the spiritual coexisting with the commercial, the inward with the shared experience, the quiet with the chaos. On an average day, No. 3 Road pulsates with traffic, hosting a continuous stream of cargo trucks, buses, cars, bicycles, and the overhead presence of the Skytrain, competing for auditory attention against the regular flybys of commercial airlines. It is made even more boisterous with its array of restaurants, banks, and endless construction work. At the center of it all, the man, engaged in a traditional ritual practice originating from other lands, draws attention to the poignant journey of immigrants who must reconcile themselves with their new homes—in this case, through the appropriation and transformation of a public urban space into a place of personal meaning and spiritual refuge.
The presentation of this photograph in the Gallery’s Page Hope-Smith Art Lounge is part of a new initiative Collection Close-up wherein we highlight a work from the Collection, which has a formal or thematic link to the featured exhibition(s).
