Step into the streets of Vancouver’s Chinatown through the lens of Fred Herzog. Vitality brings together a striking selection of Herzog’s photographs, capturing daily life in Chinatown, Strathcona, and along historic Hastings St. from the 1950s to 1970s. Known for his masterful use of Kodachrome colour, Herzog documented the heyday of a neighbourhood in transformation —family-run shops, vibrant street scenes, and quiet moments of resilience and joy.

Each photograph is paired with personal and historical narratives uncovered by the Chinatown Storytelling Centre, adding new layers of meaning to Herzog’s iconic images. Scan QR codes throughout the exhibition to hear firsthand reflections that bring these moments to life.

Blending photography with storytelling, Vitality uncovers the hidden stories behind Herzog’s iconic images, offering a richer, more nuanced view of these historic neighbourhoods. By capturing the vitality, creativity, and resilience of the community during its heyday, this exhibition serves as a powerful reminder of what these neighbourhoods once were—and what they can become again.

Monsters in My Head is the first solo presentation in North America of work by Japanese artist Otani Workshop. The exhibition invites visitors into an enchanted dreamworld, where myths, memories and materials come together to form a landscape—one that is strange, yet deeply familiar.

Entering the exhibition is like wandering into a forest of the imagination. Ceramic creatures in various scales and forms emerge from earthen mounds, tree stumps and scattered stones. The mazelike installation—constructed from materials foraged from local parks and forests—echoes Otani’s creative process, which transforms natural elements (clay, wood, flora) into figures brimming with presence and personality.

Visitors will encounter works inspired by the Pacific Northwest Coast, made during Otani’s Deer Lake Artist Residency at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in the summer of 2024. Other sculptures—produced in the artist’s studio on Awaji Island, situated on the Seto Inland Sea of Japan—draw on the deep traditions of ceramic-making but are shaped by his own intuitive experimentation. Ranging from human to animal-like figures, Otani’s ceramic works have a raw physicality, with textured and irregular surfaces, while his paintings capture more whimsical and adolescent sentiments of wonder, solitude, longing and hope.