Stir Cheat Sheet: 5 things you should know about Paul Wong's Saltwater City/Vancouver / 咸水埠温哥华
The new neon public artwork illuminates history in an alley near Hastings and Main
Paul Wong’s new neon piece Saltwater City – Vancouver / 咸水埠温哥华.
A NEW BEACON is glowing in the graffiti-tagged alleyway behind 475 Main Street, between Pender and Hastings streets.
Multimedia artist Paul Wong’s Saltwater City Vancouver/鹹水埠温哥华 was developed as part of his year-long residency “身在唐人街/Occupying Chinatown” at the Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden. It was commissioned by the City of Vancouver Public Art Program. Here are five things about it.
The site was chosen by public vote in January 2019. Its historical significance? From 1889 to 1929 it served as the location of Vancouver City Hall. There, the mayor and council enacted laws that discriminated against Chinese residents—among them, denying them the right to vote, to own property, and to choose which neighbourhood they wanted to live in. In 2018, the City of Vancouver made a formal apology for historical discrimination against Chinese residents.
The neon piece also overlooks an alley known throughout the 20th century as Market Alley. Among other thriving Chinatown businesses, it was home to two popular haunts: the Green Door and Red Door Restaurants.
The neon sign’s Chinese characters read phonetically in Cantonese as “Haam Sui Fow Wun Goh Wah”. “Haam Sui Fow” translates to “Saltwater City”, a nickname the Chinese community had for this place, and “Wun Goh Wah”, a term it also used, is a phonetic translation of “Vancouver”.
The work is also deeply personal. During his residency, the artist pored through more than 700 letters and artifacts from his late mother Suk-Fong Wong. They inspired workshops, performances, and artworks, including the neon piece.
Wong chose neon as his medium because he remembers the Chinatown he grew up in as being ablaze with glowing signs.
A closeup of the Chinese characters in Saltwater City – Vancouver / 咸水埠温哥华.
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