This two-person exhibition presents a series of portraits focusing on people who live and work in East Vancouver, highlighting the significant contributions being made to the cultural landscape by this diverse and talented community. These intimate paintings give a personal insight the lives of a fashion pioneer, a tattoo artist, a baker and many more, providing emotional connection into the habitual days of exceptional people.

In a project developed to celebrate the lives of a small but impactful group of individuals at the forefront of culture-creation in the City, Habitual features 24 oil on birch panel portrait paintings of people whose contributions continue to shape East Vancouver into a celebrated, inclusive, and cherished neighbourhood. The artists insert biographical references into the paintings, locating the subjects in their own unique creative environments, allowing the form and style of the paintings to speak to the personalities and talents of the individuals portrayed.

Locating our subjects geographically in culturally rich East Vancouver, it was critical to the project to meet with the people we wanted to paint, talk with them about their craft, and photograph them for painting references. The process of interviewing and photographing each of the subjects laid the groundwork for these bodies of work. We took hundreds of photos in preparation for this show, and these, in combination with our personal interaction with the subjects, determined the context and nature of the painted portraits.