Mend Walks
East Vancouver, BC (2021)
Photo Credits: Laura Herridge
Performance still of Mend Walks, East Vancouver, BC, 2021.
Site-Responsive Participatory Workshop
Duration: Hour-long walks starting from the Emily Car University of Art & Design
Materials:
Raw terracotta clay, water
The ground that we walk on daily is always moving - tectonic plates that continually push, pull and crack over time. Vancouver sits above the Cascadia subduction zone, a plate boundary that has been converging on itself and accumulating stress for centuries. In Mend Walks, Che explores the geological, material, and metaphorical meanings of fracture lines by hosting hour-long walks around East Vancouver to mend sidewalk cracks with unfired terracotta clay. These temporary repairs were often eroded quickly by seasonal rains, but the vibrant orange stains left by iron oxides invite continued reflection on hidden pressures that shape our environment and what maintenance and care means in an urban city.
Xinwei Che, Mend Walks. Raw terracotta clay, water. East Vancouver, BC, 2021.Xinwei Che, Mend Walks. Raw terracotta clay, water. East Vancouver, BC, 2021.Xinwei Che, Mend Walks. Raw terracotta clay, water. East Vancouver, BC, 2021.