EXPLORING VANCOUVER’S NON-HUMAN RESIDENTS IN PHOTOGRAPHY SERIES HUMAN:NATURE

Kevin Lanthier is a Vancouver based photographer whose work seeks to tell stories about everyday life through the archetypal. Using composite images and juxtaposition, Lanthier tailors narratives in ways that reflect and heighten his concept-driven projects. His previous award-winning exhibit, The Special, examined Vancouver’s history and culture through streetscapes and was also a finalist for the Saltspring National Art Prize. 

The Crow Commute

His current project HUMAN:NATURE turns the lens on urban wildlife and highlights the lives and contrasts of the animals that call Vancouver home. More than wildlife, Lanthier also reflects on his childhood in Coquitlam and the nostalgic warmth he associates with certain images that inspire his work:

Trash Pandas

“As I started to figure out how to put [HUMAN:NATURE] together, I realized that there are lots of stories with wildlife in the city that can be told. The Crow Commute was the one that really kicked off the series and inspired the rest of it. I was fascinated by the fact that all these crows in Vancouver gather in Burnaby every night. I knew there were several ideas I wanted to do – these sort of nostalgic childhood images. Raccoons knocking over garbage cans is something I remember as a kid, and we actually had a bear in our backyard one day when I was 12 or 13 years old.”

Ultimately, his images seek to strike a moment of familiarity and recognition in the average Vancouverite. In every image, the activities of wildlife mirror human behaviour. Revealing the material conditions wildlife adapt to in human spaces.

The series, comprising a total of 9 images, depict surreal landscapes with familiar wildlife engaged in eerily human activities: caribou’s migrating across North America, crows commuting to Burnaby on a daily basis, bunnies living as large families in one single apartment-like structures, and of course, the infamous Canada Geese who are known for their aggression. The titles of these images (Caribou Migrants, Rabbit Co-Op, Olympic Village Beavers, Permanent Resident Canada Geese, The Crow Commute, and Trash Pandas) also reveal the layered socio-economic histories of the human communities that call Vancouver home.

Human:Nature Exhibit at the Ian Tan Gallery

The core of this series highlights the environmental issues associated with non-human creatures living in the city. “I think, if anything, I'd like people to reflect on the urban environment. If the urban environment itself can impact the behaviour of a variety of wildlife species in unanticipated ways, what ways do the spaces we create for ourselves impact our own behaviour?” says Lanthier. 

HUMAN:NATURE was recently featured at the Ian Tan Gallery. You can view Lanthier’s images on his website and on Instagram.