Hope in Shadows

Go to new Hope in Shadows website here

Photography contest, calendar & exhibitions

The Downtown Eastside is not a place Vancouverites usually think of as a place children might call home, but several of the top places in this year’s Hope in Shadows Photography Contest went to local children.

Prize money, a certificate and an enlarged copy of each picture was presented by Pivot Legal Society lawyer David Eby to all exhibition winners at the annual award ceremony at the Carnegie Community Centre on October 17, 2006.

Winning shot. One of 2005's judges pointed to the image "Sidewalk Sale" (top) by Juan Martinez and exclaimed that many of the images are taken of people who would never pose for regular photographers: " they just would not be able to get these shots."

Pivot has organized a series of community events based around a photography contest for local people in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside since late 2003.

Every year hundreds of people line up on East Hastings Street to receive free disposable black-and-white cameras.

The themes of the photography contest are chosen to encourage hope and positivity in what many Vancouverites only see on their evening news as a dangerous place: the Downtown Eastside.

Contest themes have included: community, kindness & generosity, joy & laughter, struggle & empowerment, friendship & love, courage & hope, and faith & tradition.

Smile, you're on candid camera One of the 200 cameras given to local residents of Vancouver's Downtown Eastside Hope in Shadows camera handout on July 15, 2006. It was the fourth annual contest organised by Pivot Legal Society.

View 2006 exhibition and calendar (43 images) Three short videos of the 2005 camera handout, award ceremony and exhibition opening. 2005 exhibition [ 2006 calendar PDF 5508 KB ] Designboom article about 2005 Hope in Shadows (Milan, Italy) 2004 exhibition images & 2005 calendar 2003 exhibition CBC Radio 3 link. [ 2004 calendar ] Hope in Shadows retrospective exhibition catalogue [PDF 2684 KB] The 57 images selected from the 2003, 2004 and 2005 contests. The photography exhibition, Hope in Shadows calendar and the exhibitions are sponsored by many organizations... [more]

An innovative approach to empowerment through art, the top images are selected for an annual exhibition and portrait calendar.

Defining their own identity

The idea of the contest was to give marginalized people the power to define their own identity, and to offer them an opportunity to showcase their talent and potential, says Pivot's executive director John Richardson.

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