Norman Fox

For the past fifteen years, I have photographed my hometown of Vancouver. It is a city that reflects the exhilarations and anxieties of a rapidly changing world with unusual clarity — cosmopolitan and insular at once, open to global influence yet often forgetful of its own layered history.

​

Much of this work has focused on the Downtown Eastside and East Vancouver — buildings, streets, and overlooked vantage points that are endlessly seen but rarely paused over. I am often drawn to what feels transitional: structures nearing alteration, corners awaiting redevelopment, sites that may not look the same a year later. These photographs form an ongoing study of a city in acceleration, where memory and development often occupy the same block.

​

I try to avoid the familiar clichés of natural beauty, the pieties that often frame representations of the Downtown Eastside, and the reflexive awe surrounding the wealth that increasingly defines the skyline. The images are the city as I encountered it — on foot, over time, and often alone. If the work succeeds, I hope it does so with humor, generosity, and a clear-eyed respect for the city as it actually is.