Moving at the Speed of the Tide

Moving at the Speed of the Tide with artist Lou Sheppard as a part of our Place-Based Field School. Lou is the artist developing new permanent work, Tide Change (False Creek) for the GNW-Emily Carr skytrain station, which will sit on the historic False Creek Flats, 450 hectares of reclaimed tidal flats. Before they were filled in these tidal flats were a significant ecological feature, and important fishing grounds for Coast Salish communities. The indeterminate space between high and low tide- area that is neither fully dry land, nor ocean, is a distinct ecological zone, home to plant and animal life that have adapted to the constantly changing environment. The development that has occurred in False Creek since it was infilled echoes the indeterminacy of a constantly changing environment- racial, cultural and economic diversity, busy commercial areas, residential streets, highways, industrial yards, and universities.

Photos by Alison Boulier