Fire Hall No. 1 was an integral part of Lethbridge's Chinatown. It's closure in 1974 was the final nail in the coffin of the surrounding Asian business community. The disappearance of these businesses which had been place of community for Asian, particularly Chinese Immigrants to the area, made space for new businesses. Particularly, ones that that racial power structures deemed more valuable to the city as a whole then the cultural growth and support the Chinese and Asia businesses offered to their already isolated customers.
This photo was cutting and gluing the stop sign from another photo onto the image of the firehall. Creating the lines surrounding the stop sign which are not straight, narrow or tidy. The firehall pushes the lines of the stop sign, seeing just how far it can go. However, the stop sign ultimately creates a harsh line between to images, defining the border between the worlds.
Dodge and burning techniques were not successful, requiring a great deal of trial and error, resulting frustration levels rising, and wasted photo paper. This process encouraged to try a new technique and forced me to confront my personal biases about what is "proper" way to create a photomontage. Biases that I had no backing for considering I had no prior experience with photomontage.
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