A controversial photograph depicting Vancouver's Gastown Riot goes on display in New York before settling into its Downtown Eastside home
VANCOUVER -- A controversial new artwork by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas goes on display today at the David Zwirner gallery in New York. The piece - Abbott & Cordova - depicts a scene from the 1971 Gastown Riot, an episode of Vancouver's history that members of the city's police force would rather not revisit.
The work is a scale version of a huge photograph (9 by 15 metres) due to be installed in June in the atrium of the redeveloped Woodward's building in Vancouver's troubled Downtown Eastside. Enclosed in glass, the piece shows police rounding up protesters, who were demonstrating against the use of undercover cops and for the legalization of marijuana.
News reports from the time state that police charged on horseback and beat the crowd with batons.
One eyewitness was quoted in The Globe and Mail saying the officers behaved with "almost a satanic arrogance."
Abbott & Cordova, by Vancouver artist Stan Douglas. (Stan Douglas and David Zwirner)
