It’s been almost four years since she started this project; a large-scale, powerful series of portraits. There will be 69 portraits, the number of women from Vancouver’s downtown Eastside missing for more than a decade. It is by far the most intense and commanding project to date about these women. Vancouver artist, Pamela Masik, is taking the tiny faces off the missing poster and forcing us to see the sadness, anger and fear, painting each woman on an 8x10 canvas.
Many were First Nations people. Many had run from abusive relationships. They were drug addicts. They were prostitutes. But they were also mothers, friends, wives, sisters and daughters. Masik believes it is our collective responsibility to support and empower individuals at high risk, women marginalized in societal structures, made dependent and disillusioned about their own power and self-worth. It is easy to separate “us” from “them”, and hopefully Masik’s project will make us see their faces and hear their voices.
The targeted completion date for the project is September 2009.
For more information, visit www.masik.ca
