Z: Zany & Zen

The statue captures how I feel at the end of the project ... When I started, I thought it would take me 24 days but it ended up taking two years. Good intentions often take unexpected turns. I hope I will always remember to face such turns in precisely this posture.

Y: Yellow

X: X

I was discussing the meaning of the festival's logo with a friend the other night and we could not come up with a plausible interpretation. Only when I was searching for an X-shaped object to photograph for this entry that I came to the conclusion that two hearts entangled make for an excellent X: a kiss to remember, a cross to bear, a path with no exit, a steamy XXX encounter ...

Vancouver Queer Film Festival 2014

W: Wire

 

Somewhere in a dream I am performing a high wire act ...

V: Valour

Terry Fox (1958-1981)

On shadowy days of doubt, the iconic statue of our most celebrated alumni still inspires courage ...

U: Us

I love this piece of street art that I came across in an alleyway off Kensington Avenue in Toronto. Somehow I identify with the face at bottom right!

T: Tossed

These shoes had been hanging off the wires over an alleyway just off East Broadway and Fraser for at least a couple of years until a friend of mine who lives in the neighbourhood got so sick of them that he called for their removal. In an impressive instance of municipal efficiency, the shoes were removed within days of the call. I admit, the shoes were rather ugly to look at in real life ... but a lo-mo image of them still makes me feel all kinds of nostalgic.

S: Shade

I saw this art project while wandering in Fitzroy Garden during a trip to Melbourne this past February. I liked it that the tiles with all the children's names seem to be snug and protected under the shade. Meanwhile, the shadows of the trees sway like they are dancing with the kids.

R: Rocks

Rocks beneath my feet

Q: Quiet

A blue heron meditating on Lost Lagoon

P: Peace

O: O

N: Noise

I was thinking about how to represent noise photographically when I walked by this sign ... so I cheated!

M: Moon

L: Leaf

Autumn's last leaf?

K: Knuckle

A show of strength

J: Jeep

I've never owned or even driven a Jeep before, but it always signals freedom and escape to me.

I: Inside

Inspired, grimly, by Sylvia Plath; and, more happily, by one of my favourite scenes in Hedwig & the Angry Inch, where young Hedwig has to "play in the oven" late at night while listening to the American masters ...

H: Hymn

Continuing to explore staging and bokeh. And, totally without reason, feeling a little sacred on this quiet Monday, second day of the Lunar New Year.

G: Grey

Where else but the greyest place in the city? A detail from the Academic Quadrangle at SFU, designed by Arthur Erickson.