Open to Vancouver, BC area folks, with priority to Cedar Cottage, Hastings-Sunrise, and Renfrew residents
This summer 2021, United Aunties Arts Association, led by artist and Renfrew resident Clare Yow, invites East Vancouver community members to be part of a free film photography experiment.
Photography is a significant tool that is deeply embedded into so many peoples’ everyday lives. It is a way to communicate, document, and remember special beings, places, moments, or feelings. With the advent of digital cameras and smartphones, film photography is much less commonly used these days, but it still remains an artistic tool with broad appeal and rich possibilities for creative expression.
As our lives continue to shift and respond to this time of upheaval, we invite you to participate in a creative and collaborative project that unites you and your neighbours!
The premise: Ten participants are anonymously paired up. Each pair is invited to take turns photographing their corner of the world on a single, shared roll of slide film. Double-exposed images are layered over each other and unexpected happy accidents are bound to happen!
@etienneblg @anniespratt @drskdr @betteratf8 @shimikumi32
Join us for this free photography exchange
to create some artful memories together, apart 📸 🎞️ 🖼️
This project is gratefully supported by a 2021 Responsive Neighbourhood Small Grant.
How Snap Happy Works:
1. Complete the participant sign up form at the bottom of this page.
We have spots for just 10 people to participate in this collaboration and welcome folks from all walks of life to participate. You do not need to be a professional artist in order to take part!
Requirements:
- As this is a project supported by a Neighbourhood Small Grant that funds projects in specific neighbourhoods in BC, we are prioritizing Cedar Cottage, Hastings-Sunrise, and Renfrew area residents (click here to see the boundaries) but do welcome applications from surrounding areas.
- You are 16 years of age or older.
- You have access to a working 35mm film camera that you know how to use.
- You commit to completing your roll of film wno more than 6 weeks after receiving it and will mail it back to us (we’ll give you a stamped envelope).
2. If selected, you will receive an email confirmation and a free project package at no cost to you.
It will contain:
- A 35mm roll of Fuji Provia 100 colour slide film with 36 exposures;
- Instructions on how to participate, including some tips on how to best photograph when creating double-exposures and how to wind your completed roll of film back so the next person can re-use it;
- A self-addressed, stamped envelope to mail your completed roll of film back to us in Vancouver’s Chinatown.
3. Shoot your roll of film!
Snap away… happily! You are welcome to be as abstract and creative as you like. Photograph landscapes or street scenes that captivate, people and creatures you adore, quiet moments to be remembered, colours, textures, light, movement. We want to see your corner of East Van! And while we ask that participants live in the above neighbourhoods, photos do not all have to be taken within its boundaries.
4. Mail your roll of film back to us.
A self-addressed and stamped envelope will be included in your package. We will develop you and your project partner’s roll of film at a professional lab.
We require a six-week maximum turnaround time for you to complete and return your roll of film so that it can be mailed to your project partner. We want all participants to be able to photograph during the upcoming gorgeous summer months before Snap Happy wraps up by fall 2021.
5. Follow along at @unitedaunties.
We hope to start sharing completed pieces by mid-fall 2021 on our Instagram account with the possibility of an outdoor, sunset slideshow of participants’ works in the Hastings-Sunrise neighbourhood at that time. This will be in collaboration with the Neighbourhood Small Grants team.
Safety Guidelines:
The nature of this project is such that participants do not physically engage with one another as they collaborate, so the risk of illness is low. However, participants are reminded to help continue preventing the spread of COVID-19 in their communities throughout this project by getting vaccinated (vaccines are safe, effective against community transmission, and have a high level of protection against serious illness and death) and engaging in regular hand-washing, physical distancing, mask-wearing, and staying home when sick, even as vaccines roll out.
Project packages will be assembled and mailed out by the project lead following similar safety protocols.
We ask that any photographs taken do not contain any explicit material in order to keep this project inclusive for all to partake and enjoy in.
Privacy Guidelines:
United Aunties is committed to protecting the privacy and security of all individuals who engage with us.
- Your personal information (name and contact information) will be kept completely confidential: your email will only be used for the purposes of United Aunties communicating directly with you (or through a BCC email), and your address will only be used to mail the package to you.
- When your roll of film is mailed to the person you have been paired up with, it will not have any identifiable information on it.
- (Optional) If you consent to being identified as part of this project by name and/or Instagram handle, you may opt-in on the participant sign up form below. By default, your identity will remain strictly confidential.
Copyright and Attribution Guidelines:
- By participating in this project, you agree to the completed works being shown online and/or in-person with the work credited to the artists and their social media accounts tagged (if opted-in).
- There is no financial compensation for being a part of this project.
- Completed works become part of the United Aunties art archive – a digital repository of works found on our Instagram account and website, and housed physically in our Chinatown studio.
- United Aunties does not derive any commercial gain from any of the works created as part of projects we facilitate. We may use them as examples of past initiatives in order to access future funding opportunities.
Questions? Please contact Clare at aunties@clareyow.com