Abandonment Issues: Victoria Methodist Church 1893

"How can you get through the day without God?" a devout man once asked me, adding how torturous it must be, how empty it must feel.

I didn't answer because there was nothing that i could say to him that would be more effective than silence. He wanted to convert me and more than anything he wanted to be right. He needed to be right. If he's not right, and he can't keep convincing people that he's right, the whole thing collapses in on him like a house of cards. Oh how torturous that must be, how empty it must feel.

Within days of pasting this scroll up on a skytrain pillar in Vancouver in August, 2009, my email accounts were bombarded with religious scriptures and outreach messages.



These people were trying to convince me that god was speaking directly to me through their actions, in response to what they perceived to be an outcry. They wanted me to accept their christ as my lord and savior merely to validate their own belief structure, and they wore it on their sleeves.



On this day, in early June of 2011, the congregation consisted of ninja IX and her brother RJPN, as well as our good friends open5 and Melanie, who were visiting from Vancouver. I approached the podium and cleared my throat, then belted out segmented bible portions out of context in the thickest southern baptist accent i could muster. I read aloud...

"To see Jesus who he was because he was little of and climbed up into for he was to pass that came to the place, he and said unto him, come down: for today haste, and come down. Amen."

i had trouble holding the character through to the end of the quote and burst into laughter like Jimmy Fallon used to do every Saturday night. Our collective laughter echoed back at us.

preaching to the choir


today's sermon


Sitting in a back pew, i watched my flock gather up front and scatter as brother RJPN opened the back of the organ and proclaimed that it had been gutted. Ope and Melanie wandered around wide-eyed, smiling at each other with that young love look in their eyes. These two young lovers were over a month into a journey from Vancouver to Quebec City and back, through America. They have been sleeping in a car and squatting in abandoned buildings along the way. Such a romantic pilgrimage, going nowhere together. For those of you that don't know, the homie Open5 is one of Vancouver's most prolific and adored graffiti artists, and is a dear friend of the IX family.

RJPN could never understand our obsession with abandoned places until this moment. In fact he detested that we were taking risks that he deemed to be stupid. He has never been to church in his life, and the only other abandoned house he's been in was out near Bancroft when he was a kid. In the late nineties we brought him up a long overgrown driveway in the thick forest, which he was afraid of, and came upon an abandoned house containing a dental chair in the depths of the dark basement. He still speaks ill of that experience on this day. But he gets it now, he says its not for him, but he now understands and is accepting of our choices, which is a luxury preached but never practiced by religious types in my personal experiences. In fact, he manned up and explored every other spot we stopped at during this week at the cottage.

Ninja IX was lurking silently, acting as the eyes and ears of the operation. Now that you've met the congregation, it's time to explore The Victoria Methodist Church that was built in 1893 in Havelock, Ontario.

The ironic baa of sheep can be heard from a nearby field as the congregation is herded out into the graveyard to allow me to photograph the empty church.

congregation


sunday morning


patterned after the lord and reflecting in his image

pew indeed


pass the collection plate


burning in hell for eternity


devil on your shoulder


the sins of the father


backroom deals


Toronto Star, Thursday, November 18th, 1976


a moment of silence


if i should die before i wake...


benching


the hymnary


August 23rd, 1959


Hymnary's Greatest Hits, Top 10's and B-Sides


Amen


Statement of Faith


To the Needs and Opportunities of a Postwar World


all are welcome


disorganized


this church was not an organ donor, apparently


organisn't


DOMINION ORGAN CO. MOUSEPROOF PATENTED 87


camp dirty


organic


no one's ark


The C-Word - Church


serenity now!


a window into the past


passed collection plate


While the church itself is no longer in use, the graveyard and church property are fairly well maintained. In order to help keep animals from using the church as a toilet, i returned the next morning with a multi-tool and sealed the P.O.E.

click here to check out all of jerm & ninja IX's ABANDONMENT ISSUES

Abandonment Issues: A Homeless Man As A House

I must preface this post by stating that I visited this house in Vancouver, BC, before identifying as an urban explorer and was still in full-on street art mode. These shots are from May/June 2010. I have since learned of a code that has changed the way I think about entering these abandoned locations, so as to preserve them for others enjoyment and to not heat off spots and in turn get them sealed up. That said, this place was slated for destruction when prolific Vancouver graffiti artist and dear homie Open5 and I hit it. I had no pasties, so while Ope was crushing a two floor beast, I sprayed up my jerm IX stencil on everything in sight. My photos reflect a time when street art was my primary focus, before I turned the camera on the buildings themselves earlier this year.

When I stumbled into this house's face, my immediate response was that of loud boisterous laughter - laughter so loud that it freaked out the tiny elderly woman walking behind me. The funniest thing was that this very house was my actual destination that morning because I needed to photograph the work that Open5 and I had done inside just a few days before. I was quite taken aback -- and as the laughing faded, the installation really spoke to me. I was reminded of a 19 year old jerm, standing in front of the duplex on Blank Street in the 'single parent projects', as they were dubbed. He was staring at the house where he was raised, only to feel the house was somehow looking back at him. The clash of past and present blended together seamlessly in that moment. I also had thoughts about perceived identity and how in today's society, many people see themselves through acquired possessions such as homes. At the intersection of Scotia & 4th, I stood as still as a mannequin in a boutique window on Robson street and stared at the house - and the house stared back at me, again. With our eyes locked, I asked aloud, who did this?!

Given that there was a demolition notice on the door and that the back half of the house had suffered severe fire damage, I was sure that life would never again show its face here. But Graeme Berglund had other ideas. Graeme is a local artist represented by the Douglas Udell Gallery in Western Canada. He works in various mediums and is very active in Vancouver's art community in several capacities - too many to name. He is also a founding member of The Cheaper Show. I asked Graeme for some insight into this installation, this was his response...

"I took a photo of Corey, a sweet guy that panhandles up by Brewery Creek in Mount Pleasant every night. Corey is from Newfoundland. I told him I wanted to paint an image of his face. He said yes. This house at Scotia and 4th is rather iconic for this hood. Zoe from Red Light Sting used to live here and make noise in the basement. Melissa Jeffers did a stint. It was infested with some bike couriers for a while (all rad dudes actually). Then one night the back half caught on fire. I've enjoyed watching this house sit and decay... and seeing artists slowly started bringing it back to life. Office Supplies Inc. did a couple of series back there that I was feeling a lot. There is demolition notice on it as of the other day, so I thought I'd do something as a little farewell. This is my painting of Corey. A homeless man as a house."

This response hit home with me. In my early teens, I spent a few years as an amateur couch surfer and was on many occasions homeless. I perfected living life in the alcoves at the top of staircases in high-rise apartment buildings. These are the memories that Graeme's response triggered in me. I'd love to hear your own thoughts and reactions to "A homeless man as a house."

This post was originally written for my old Vancouver Street Heart column on Beyond Robson.























A few weeks ago I returned to Vancouver to record the final four tracks for my upcoming album and to celebrate the release of my dear friend and renowned author Timothy Taylor's new novel The Blue Light Project. While back in my old turf I stopped at many of my favourite spots, and like many of them, this house was gone, nothing but a muddy parking lot remained. But surely enough, it was surrounded by Open5 and crew, making me feel at home in my old home.





click here to check out all of jerm & ninja IX's ABANDONMENT ISSUES