The light of places far away — and the peace they create within us — are themes in Garrett Andrew Chong’s new exhibit at PoMoArts.
A Centennial secondary graduate, Chong presents a series of photographic collages in Seeing Anew: Earthly Presence, a show that he’ll discuss on Thursday (April 15) during a Facebook Live opening at the Port Moody arts hub starting at 7:15 p.m.
Seeing Anew is one of five collections Chong produced during the pandemic lockdown, all of them touching on a deeper meaning about the world and how solitude has forced us to press the reset button.
A fourth generation Chinese-Canadian, Chong searches for different auras that can take the viewer on a spiritual journey; his images of sacred places are from his travels between 2016 and ’18, and he pairs them with local scenes for contrast.
“I want to convey a feeling,” Chong told the Tri-City News. “When you travel, you get an appreciation for life and it’s told in different shades of lights. If you let it in, you’re changed forever.”
Though his travels these days are closer to home, Chong said the light in B.C. provincial parks also provides a beauty with “forests upon forests that are just 20 minutes away.”
Seeing Anew is part of the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society’s 2021 explorASIAN Festival.
Meanwhile, also opening solo displays this week are Burnaby resident Taize Powell (Melancholy) and Valerie Pugh (Sur/veil: Who’s Looking, Whose Watching), of Coquitlam.
Their shows run until May 12.
