CVAG Window + Plaza Media Gallery | George Sawchuk Media Room
BECAUSE • NOT DESPITE | THREE VIDEOS
Looping screenings of three films augment the exhibitions Emma Goldman at the Frick Museum and Art of Belonging.
ART OF BELONGING | WINDOW + PLAZA MEDIA GALLERY (LED SCREEN)
Sand Spin (2024)
Erik Hedley
Hi, I’m Erik Hedley. I’m 26 years old, and I work with young children as a childcare assistant. In my spare time, I like to take pictures and videos to help myself remember my life. My iPhone is like my point of view and my eye on the world. I have a fascination with change over time. The timelapse videos that I make help me to see change sped up on video. For example, I’ve recorded snow rising up outside of our house in Ottawa and sunsets turning into night time. As part of an armed forces family, I’ve lived from Halifax to Comox. While living in Ottawa, my family and I made autism awareness and advocacy videos. I have these on a YouTube channel I made as a teenager called AutismShoeViews. During that time, I collaborated with my mom on an autism article series called “I Have Autism and I Need Your Help” for Autism Ontario’s Autism Matters magazine. I did the cartoon-style art work for the articles which ran from 2012 – 2018. I’ve had an interest in photography and videography since I was a child. I got the idea for Sand Spin from my Art of Belonging instructor, Dean Bouche. In 2021, Dean showed my group a timelapse video he made where he was zigzagging on the beach, and I thought it was really funny! It gave me the idea to make my own version, Sand Spin, at my favourite place, the Goose Spit. I hope you enjoy it.
EMMA GOLDMAN AT THE FRICK MUSEUM | GEORGE SAWCHUK MEDIA GALLERY
From the Inside/OUT! (2002)
Lorna Boschman
In 1996, the institutionalization of people with developmental disabilities in British Columbia came to an end, when the last residents of Woodlands moved to their new homes in the community. Award winning artist Persimmon Blackbridge worked with survivors of these institutions to create From the Inside/OUT!, a provocative installation about confinement and freedom. 28 artists shared stories, made artwork, and uncovered truths to create a work that reviewers call “unforgettable.”
For more than a century, it was common practice in BC to segregate and confine people with developmental disabilities in large institutions. On October 21, 1996 that practice finally came to an end when the last two residents of Woodlands institution moved to their new homes in the community. This program presents a rich tapestry of images and spoken memories, drawn from the experiences of individuals who lived in Woodlands, Tranquille, and Glendale Lodge. It is a powerful record of a unique collaboration and an essential contribution to an important chapter in Canada’s social history.
Persimmon Blackbridge: Sculptor (2025)
Zsofin Sheehy
This short documentary is part of Art Island: Perspectives from a Creative Community, a video portrait series exploring the creative lives of artists on Hornby Island. In this episode, Persimmon Blackbridge reflects on disability, identity, and the transformative role of art from within the intimate setting of her home and studio. The film invites viewers into a quiet, contemplative space — one that Persimmon generously and bravely opens to us. Her work weaves together activism, memory, humour, and resilience, speaking with clarity and emotional depth. Rather than interpret or explain, the video simply listens, allowing Persimmon’s voice to guide the experience. I’m deeply grateful for the trust she extended in allowing this glimpse into such a personal and layered world. My hope was to hold that space with care, and to honour her perspective by sharing it as truthfully and respectfully as possible. This is a portrait shaped by presence, vulnerability, and creative courage.
MORE ABOUT LORNA BOSCHMAN
During the 1990s, Lorna Boschman collaborated with Persimmon Blackbridge on multiple video projects, including From the Inside/OUT! Lorna was awarded the Vancouver Mayor’s Arts Award in Film + New Media in 2016 in recognition of her work as a director. In collaboration with Sebnem Ozpeta and Vancouver’s grunt gallery, Lorna has co-facilitated community digital storytelling workshops for the past decade. They are featured on Digital Stories Canada. Her most recent collaboration, How I Got My Queer Back, was co-written and co-directed with Rojina (RJ) Farrokhnejad and Aerlyn Weissman in 2025.
MORE ABOUT ZSOFIN SHEEHY
Zsofin is an independent filmmaker with a passion for creating immersive and emotionally rich experiences through her work. Over the past decade, Zsofin has worked with creatives of all stripes to produce shorts, documentaries and music videos across Canada. Her intuitive photographic sensibility and attention to nuance is visible alongside her pursuit of technical mastery in cinematography. Zsofin’s most recent project, a 19-episode film series with the Hornby Island Arts Council, Art Island showcases the lives of individual artists situated away from the mainstream. These intimate portraits not only explore the creative but also personal struggles of the subjects, humanizing and connecting them to viewers. Currently residing back in her hometown of Hornby Island, Zsofin delights in her rambling garden, cooking the spiciest Northern Thai cuisine she can muster, and her sassy and deaf, elderly dog Paprika.
because • not despite | three videos is part of the convergent program because • not despite.
