Vancouver — as it was
Keremidschieff’s photos capture an era of upheaval and unrest
If a picture were truly worth a thousand words, the 100 fullpage photos in this book would make for quite the novel. Photographer Vladimir Keremidschieff, who now lives in Australia, presents a collection of work that reveals much about the Vancouver of 40- some years ago.
The images are black- andwhite, intended for publication in newspapers of the day, when colour printing was an extravagance reserved for only the most special of editions. In his insightful notes to the book, Keremidschieff relates how he would have to rush back to his darkroom to make a print to meet his deadline, on occasion holding the print out the car window so it would dry.
To be sure, his subject matter includes all that you might expect: portraits of political figures — Pierre Elliott Trudeau, then- mayor Tom ( Terrific) Campbell — rock stars, and a slew of unnamed people with long hair.
Just as the book serves to showcase the photographic works of a particular artist, the photos themselves serve to showcase an era. His images bring to life the waves of the many protests — whether they were against the war in Vietnam, in support of environmental causes or calling attention to joblessness. You need to think only as far as the Occupy movement or the gathering momentum against transporting fossil fuels to see that so much of the work that began back then is still largely unfinished.
Although it’s a time that in some ways looks quite different from now, in so many other ways it’s familiar. The Vancouver Art Gallery ( then the Courthouse) still serves as a gathering spot for protest events. Its stone lions have certainly seen their share of crowds and political messages. And though the shape of the cars on the streets ( where traffic appears to be almost nonexistent) have changed, as have the modes of fashion, the people in his street shots look basically the same — hopeful, or worried, or maybe seeking treasure in a sidewalk garbage bin.
Many of the photos in the latter part of the book extend the boundaries of “Vancouver” to include Aldergrove, Calgary and even Seattle. But that isn’t a complaint. Some of Keremidschieff’s finest portraits were taken at events in those cities, including several of Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan.
Two of my favourite portraits, each a study in contrasts, are wonderfully atypical. A serenely handsome Ike Turner is wearing a ruffled shirt. His face is unlined, and he looks almost angelic — a far cry from the man with drug and legal problems later on in life. The other unforgettable shot is of the Doors’ Jim Morrison. Perhaps his era’s Sexiest Man Alive, this portrait shows the Lizard King as anything but sexy. His face, covered in a shimmer of sweat, appears puffy and bloated. Surly might be too kind a word to apply to his expression.
This photo of Morrison is one that gets mention from Vancouver poet Jamie Reid in the book’s afterword. Reid takes us along on an incredible ride to a concert and offers a number of insights on what Vancouver ( and the world) was like during those days of so many changes. Not all the memories he cites are happy ones, but then the era wasn’t only just a haze of marijuana smoke. It was a time of assassinations and riots, of racial and gender inequality, of oppression and social restructuring. Even Reid’s poet- god Bob Dylan, a man he refers to as “an avatar of a new world” manages to let him down.
But as Jamie Reid’s words close the book, Keremidschieff’s words serve to introduce it. It’s clear that he loves the near- magic of photography, an art that’s been around for only about a century and a half. He reminds us that “Photography is all about light; the word itself means ‘ writing with light.’” With Seize the Time, he’s given us a book that indeed “writes in light,” casting its light on a time of seismic cultural shifts — a time that was special not only to Vancouver, but to the world.