A memorial for Liu Xiaobo was held at Tamar in Admiralty
I'm sorry I missed another memorial for Liu Xiaobo in Hong Kong last night.
It was the seventh day of his death, where the Chinese believe the spirit of the newly deceased will return home to bid a final farewell to their loved ones.
In Hong Kong, about 1,500 people gathered at Tamar in Admiralty, where they paid their last respects to the political dissident and Nobel Peace Prize winner who died of liver cancer on July 13.
Liu is remembered with pictures of a chair by the water
People signed condolence books and placed flowers in front of a large portrait of Liu with the words "Remembering Liu Xiaobo -- Free Liu Xia" at the park. Local musicians also performed several songs, including John Lennon's Imagine. At the end of the one-hour memorial, people raised three fingers in the air to represent resistance, freedom and hope.
Finally, a chair with a candle on it was lowered into Victoria Harbour. There are reports police were present but didn't intervene.
There were similar memorials in Vancouver, Boston, Melbourne and London.
It is believed the family was pressured by the Chinese government to cremate the Chinese dissident's body so soon after his death -- usually it is done at least a week after in observance of the Chinese custom.
Also his ashes were scattered into the sea in a controversial burial in an attempt by Beijing to deny supporters a place of pilgrimage. It is also known as a cruel form of posthumous punishment in traditional Chinese culture, where having a tomb is a place for one's descendants to pay tribute to the dead.
Projecting Liu Xiaobo's face on the facade of the PLA!
In the meantime there is serious concern over the whereabouts of his wife, Liu Xia. It is believed she may have been forced to "take a vacation" in the southwestern province of Yunnan.
Not only was she apparently detained, but also Liu Xiaobo's friends, who were reportedly under house arrest, unable to attend memorials. Others were detained after holding ceremonies by the sea.
On social media, people have been posting pictures of chairs by or in the sea, sometimes with flowers and the hashtag #liuxiaobo.
It's telling how far the Chinese government has gone to try to censor anything related to Liu Xiaobo, and yet people just keep remembering him through creative ways.
I think Liu would have been pleased to know so many around the world came out courageously to remember him in various ways.
Perhaps projecting his image on the barracks of the People's Liberation Army in Hong Kong is probably the most daring.
Abstract Tree Forms is on show at the Vancouver Art Gallery now
The Vancouver Art Gallery has one of the best collections of BC artist Emily Carr's work. The museum's latest exhibition is called "Emily Carr: Into the Forest" focuses on one of her favourite topics, trees.
It also gives the VAG an opportunity to showcase Carr's work in a thematic way and showing her progression from a realist painter to more abstract.
One of the paintings I really liked was this one, called Abstract Tree Forms that was painted from 1931-32.
And in this case the tree has been pared down to sensual, curvaceous forms, and connecting one tree to the rest of the forest like undulating waves -- a sea of trees.
Nearby where this painting was hung was a timeline of Carr's life and it was interesting to note that in 1930, she had solo exhibitions in Ottawa, Victoria and Seattle. In the same year she also went to Toronto and New York, where she met American artist Georgia O'Keefe.
After that Carr paints this painting.
One can see clearly that in Abstract Tree Forms that O'Keefe's influence rubbed off on Carr.
We can only imagine the conversations they had! To be a fly on the wall back then! Both women were very independent, determined, stubborn, and they also had a mutual love for nature around them.
Photographer Harry Benson is passionate about the pictures he takes
I really enjoy watching documentaries, not just for the subject, but also see how it is portrayed, or how the story is told.
Fun image of The Beatles playing around in their hotel room
On the way back to Hong Kong I watched a few documentaries, one of which was called Harry Benson: Shoot First that was released last year.
The Scottish-born photographer is now 87 years old and to say he's had a colourful career is an understatement.
In the documentary, viewers get to have a first-hand view of him, hearing his thoughts and feelings when he shot particular subjects or assignments, as well as testimonials from many people he has shot, or talking to journalists about why the photos Benson took were so "iconic" and that they were crucial documents to history.
Benson never knew he would become a well-known photographer -- he just took whatever assignments were given to him to make a living. When he was a child he didn't do well in school so he took a job as a delivery boy.
His father built him a small hut in the back yard, which became his darkroom and in one of the scenes Benson visits his childhood home and the hut is still there, though the current owners or inhabitants aren't there to explain what it's used for now.
An iconic image of Nancy and Ronald Reagan
In 1964 The Beatles were so hot in their first trip to the US and Benson was there to cover them by fluke because apparently the paper's top photographer wasn't good looking enough to be with them.
He caught them in fantastic poses, most particularly having a fun pillow fight on the bed of a hotel room. Another features the band encountering Muhammed Ali, who had no shame in promoting himself and proclaiming that he was beautiful.
From there Benson became known for shooting celebrities, everyone from Elizabeth Taylor before and after her brain surgery, Michael Jackson, chess champion Bobby Fischer.
He also took pictures of Robert F Kennedy when he was a senator, and then happened to be next to him when Kennedy was assassinated on June 5, 1968. While it was hard for Benson to take those photographs, it was important to get the images to preserve history.
One of the pictures Benson took is of a terrified Ethel Kennedy with her hand out, trying to block photographs of her in the moment. It's haunting, but also immediate.
The endless sea of huts of starving people in Ethiopia
Other famous photos he took were on the cover of Life magazine of Ronald Reagan with his wife Nancy dancing, Winston Churchill, and Boris Yeltsin.
Benson didn't want to be just known as a celebrity photographer -- he also took pictures of the civil rights movement with Martin Luther King Jr and how blacks were lynched -- he risked his life documenting these horrific attacks on people because of their skin colour.
On the other hand he also went to document the mass starvation of children in Ethiopia in the 1980s, where the journalist Benson was with recalled how the babies and children were so malnourished and died daily, making it such a heartbreaking story to cover.
But it wasn't all seriousness for Benson -- he had a wry humour and always quick on his feet. Getting access to chess prodigy Fischer was very difficult, but somehow Benson managed to do it. He shot pictures of the quirky American playing underwater in a swimming pool and outside where wild horses roamed.
Bobby Fischer nuzzled by a wild horse in Iceland
At first Fischer seemed nervous to be around these animals, unsure of what to do, but Benson recalled telling him the horses loved him, and sure enough, a white horse came up to Fischer who was sitting on the ground and nuzzled his head and the American was so surprised the horse was so soft.
Benson's career spans over 60 years and one can tell he loves what he does and it comes so naturally to him. He credits his Texan-born wife Gigi for his success, helping him archive his work and is also his business manager.
It's fascinating to see how he is really focused on his subjects, trying to put them at ease, and how they trust that he will take the best pictures of them.
Such a nice treat to see the park in full bloom in the summertime
After my friends and I had an early dinner on Main Street, I suggested we head to the nearby Queen Elizabeth Park to walk around and digest our meal.
It was still bright outside and I hadn't really visited the park in ages. Turns out all of us needed a refresher.
The 130-acre park was named after Queen Elizabeth, the mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and it's the highest point in Vancouver at 152 metres above sea level.
Succulents line the bases of these trees and giant plants
It has sunken gardens because it used to be a quarry, and the landscapers definitely made good use of the land. The gardens are well maintained and it's a favourite place for wedding photos in the summer.
While some parts of the park are the same, there are others that have been upgraded or modernized. One section featured mounds of trees where the bases are decorated with lots of succulents! Talk about creating more colours and textures!
There's also another section that has three metal sculptures where happy couples can demonstrate their love by putting their lock on the three dimensional figures.
Apparently it's inspired by Pont des Arts in Paris, where couples seal their love for each other, but the sculptures here are hardly covered in locks, though there are many. And it's not just couples showing their love, but also grandparents and grandchildren too, some in different languages like French and Chinese.
