Barbora in the Park at Pacific Central Station: Vancouver Biennale
Tuesday August 11th, 2009
Elegant, enigmatic Barbora has alighted on Thronton Park across from the famous and stately Pacific Central Station near the intersection of Terminal Avenue and Main Streets in midtown Vancouver.
Crafted by revered Lithuanian sculptor, photographer and social activist, Vladas Vildžiūnas, Barbora stands at about 12′ tall. She’s made from textured stainless steel and these photos are from a series that I helped to shoot with master photographer Dan Fairchild just after dusk last Saturday evening. Dan does such great work.
Vladas has created some of the most influential and important monumental works in Lithuania to date. Titled Honored Artist of Lithuania in 1982, his work has since been exhibited in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, London and many major cities around Europe. The 2009-2011 Vancouver Biennale will be his first foray in Canada.
The first two photos show Barbora from the back as though she were gathering together her gowns before proceeding across the road to a waiting coach.
The bottom photo looks up at her as she glances to her right. What is she looking at or for?
Light was fading during the shoot and Dan began taking 15-second shots of the work, lighting it by a variety of flashlights and colored gels.
We are expecting to do several more shoots of Barbora during different times of the year to catch her in as many different lights as possible.
I look forward to seeing her during the ‘magic hour’ of a mid-September evening or witnessing her moodiness on a November afternoon. I’m especially excited about capturing how she reflects the brittle winter air of a February dawn. I imagine the mountains covered in snow and the sky clear blue with diminishing hints of rose. The quiet city stretching out, slowly shaking itself awake, sipping its morning coffee in a bathrobe.
And Barbora… enchanting, resilient, eternal.
Below is a front shot of Barbora with the sky behind her that awesome magnetic blue.