The Black Strathcona Resurgence Project (BSRP) endeavoured to be a part of the ongoing process of reclaiming Black visibility in Strathcona, an area historically populated by Vancouver’s Black community. The project had the goal of reclaiming visibility and reconciling the erasure and systemic racism endured over time by Black people in Vancouver.
VMF partnered with local Black artists, curators, businesses and communities to embark on a project centring on Black storytelling through the visual impact of public murals. The project was led by Project Manager and Curator Krystal Paraboo in collaboration with a powerful team of Black leaders from different backgrounds who sat on the Advisory Committee to help guide the project from programming to community engagement.
While the majority of mural artists were Black, BSRP sought to support intercultural relations, and the murals were curated with this intersectional lens. The community has historically shared space with Strathcona and Chinatown on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh people. Building solidarity between marginalized Black and Indigenous communities is the future of our city and will ensure that reconciliation is supported beyond movements like Black Lives Matter and Land Back. Similarly, BSRP sought to collaborate with and honour Chinatown’s Chinese community with which Hogan’s Alley shares geographic space. To celebrate this, a mural collaboration between an artist representing each aforementioned community was produced on the South wall of the BC Hydro Murrin Substation building on Main Street & Union Street– the intersection of Hogan’s Alley & Chinatown.
While the majority of mural artists are Black, BSRP seeks to support intercultural relations, and the murals have been curated with this intersectional lens. The community has historically shared space with Strathcona and Chinatown on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh people. Building solidarity between marginalized Black and Indigenous communities is the future of our city and will ensure that reconciliation is supported beyond movements like Black Lives Matter and Land Back. Similarly, BSRP seeks to collaborate with and honour Chinatown’s Chinese community with which Hogan’s Alley shares geographic space. To celebrate this, a mural collaboration between an artist representing each aforementioned community is being produced on the South wall of the BC Hydro Murrin Substation building on Main Street & Union Street– the intersection of Hogan’s Alley & Chinatown.
Hogan's Alley Mural Map
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THE IMPORTANCE OF PEOPLE AND PLACE
Although dispersed, Vancouver is currently home to new generations of growing Black communities, initiatives, and businesses.
The revival of the Black Lives Matter movement in June 2020 has provided the visibility and connection to these Black individuals, including an array of Artists and Curators.
The origins of the Strathcona neighbourhood are directly correlated with early Black migration. The first Black communities arrived in B.C. predominantly from California as early as 1858, and from Alberta in the early 1900s. Over the next few decades, Black settlement and establishments grew across Strathcona, including the city’s first Black-owned church: the Fountain Chapel. This location, a hub for Black communities, was ultimately dubbed Black Strathcona. The area included (but wasn’t limited to) the block known as Hogan’s Alley and the city’s main Railway Station which predominantly hired Black men as Porters.
As the Black population grew in the 1940s, so did the contempt of the city, fuelled by the media. This turned into a determination to impose further systemic barriers for Black people in the form of housing and economic discrimination, forcing Black people to relocate. The catalyst for the complete dismantling of Black Strathcona occurred in the early 1970s when the City of Vancouver moved to build the Georgia Viaduct freeway through the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood. The rich Black Canadian history rooted in Vancouver is rarely taught or acknowledged.
THE CITY OF VANCOUVER HAS INDICATED THE INTENT TO ESTABLISH A CULTURAL CENTRE IN STRATHCONA
Approved under the North East False Creek plan Section 4.4 and 10.4, the City of Vancouver has indicated the intent to establish a Cultural Centre in Strathcona, with the intention of centralizing the Black Community through programming, food, gathering and celebration, education and empowerment, art, music, dance, research and knowledge of Black Canadian history.
CENTERING HOGAN’S ALLEY
The murals made by the Black Strathcona Resurgence Project are centred in the Hogan’s Alley neighbourhood. The community that has historically shared space with Strathcona and Chinatown on the unceded territory of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil Waututh people.
PROJECT TEAM
KRYSTAL PARABOO
Role: Project Lead,
Project Manager & Curator - Vancouver Mural Festival
ADRIAN SINCLAIR
Role: VMF Project Development
Director of Engagement - Vancouver Mural Festival
CHIPO CHIPAZIWA
Role: BSRP Associate Curator
ADVISORY COUNCIL
JAHMIRA LOVEMORE
Role: Advisory Committee Black Lives Matter Vancouver, Hogan’s Alley Society
CHANTAL GIBSON
Role: Advisory Committee Artist, SFU Educator
BERTHA CLARK
Role: Advisory Committee Descendant of
Vie Moore, Poet
ADAM RUDDER, PhD
Role: Advisory Committee
Vancouver-Based Historian, BC Community Alliance
AMINA YASIN
Role: Advisory Committee
City of Vancouver, Planner, Hogan’s Alley Society
LENWORTH HAYE
Role: Advisory Committee Hogan’s Alley Society
Read the full BSRP Report
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