Posted by Laura | March 26, 2016
That Judgmental Map I Made
This one: http://www.cknw.com/2016/03/25/judgmental-map-of-vancouver-makes-rounds-on-social-media/
Sometime in September, 2015, I was reading another depressing article about Vancouver’s affordability which came with the usual racist comment war. The Canadian election and issues around missing women, the real estate market, and industry vs. the environment dominated the headlines. There were also unrelated predictions that the world was going to end (again) and I was having a hard time painting my usual happy pictures of Vancouver. I came across the Judgmental Maps site and thought, okay, let’s delve into all this nastiness and get it out. It’ll be therapeutic.
So I made this map. It took a couple weeks. I put in some of the labels, asked friends for opinions on their own neighborhoods, and metonymized it all. There were still some blank areas so I went to the internet. I found anonymous web boards about Vancouver and filled in the rest with the most shocking comments I could find. I used to look at comment sections as a barometer of current thought patterns but anonymous comment sections are more like looking into humanity’s abyss. This map is a word cloud of what I read, overheard, and processed about Vancouver.
I finished the map and submitted it to the friendly Judgmental Maps people. They got back to me but then I suspect they got busy. Hey, America has been dealing with a lot of stuff lately.
Six months later, complaints about Vancouver’s affordability continue to escalate and the world seems even more racist. I was in the U.S. recently and USA Today ran a story about Vancouver’s real estate next to a big picture of Donald Trump. I came across this map in my archives and I thought, man, this map is like a Donald Trump map-shaped word cloud. So I resubmitted it to the JM site (they told me they are getting around to it) and I posted it on Facebook. It went sorta viral, locally. My Facebook post got something like a thousand shares and six times as many likes and reactions in a couple of days and here we are.
VanCity Buzz said this map will “make you uncomfortable.” No one likes to talk openly about racism in Vancouver. There’s a class thing, a real estate thing, and all sorts of other things going on but it’s still a pretty city that is a lot like most other cities and not especially worse or better despite what you read. Some of the words on this map are funny because they’ve been around for a long time. Others aren’t.
The Judgmental Map motto is to “leave no one unoffended.” Because never mind sticks and stones–of course words hurt and the idea of Judgmental Maps is that everyone is hurt all at once. Some of this is horrible. It’s also a visual representation of what I’ve overheard or read. I suppose we should laugh at it, dismiss most of it, and try to do right by the ones that truly bother us.
Edited To Add 1: Look! More Judgmental Maps of Vancouver. New, improved, and with twice as much cynicism: http://judgmentalmaps.com/post/141842298460/vancouverbc
ETA 2: I posted my map on March 23. Two days earlier, the Georgia Straight ran this article: http://www.straight.com/life/662421/its-time-get-real-about-living-vancouver. This is zeitgeist, right?
ETA 3: Did this interview: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/yoga-cults-cougars-gangland-judgmental-map-of-vancouver-stirs-the-pot-1.2835448 with video here: http://bc.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=837862. Here’s another one for KISS-FM: http://www.kissradio.ca/2016/04/04/interview-artist-behind-judgmental-vancouver-map/
ETA 4: Posters are ready. They are 13″x19″ on heavier stock and even the finest fine print is legible. You can get them at the lovely Beaumont storefront, La Beautique for $22. Same address as my studio: 316 W. 5th Ave. It’s open Mondays through Saturdays, 11:30 am to 6:30 pm. Pop by studio 14 and if I’m there, I will make you a free button of your favorite Vancouver scene. Maybe two buttons if I’ve really offended you. Or you can leave awful racist graffiti on my whiteboard. 😉
ETA 5: Online ordering, custom sizes and/or text: If you absolutely cannot make it to the store and need one mailed to you, I can do that. Email me at [email protected] to let me know. I’ll have to pick up shipping tubes and figure out what the postage would be. I take PayPal.
Some of you have asked for either a high-res file or a larger printed poster. Sorry, no file will be distributed but I can do two larger poster sizes: either 2 feet by 3 feet or 3 feet by 4 feet. I’ll have to fiddle around with the file to make it work first. If you’re interested in those sizes and have the wall space for it (lucky you!), let me know and I’ll follow up on pricing. AND if you want any custom additions to the text, well, hey, we can talk
“But it was a real web comment left on a real website by some anonymous poster.” Is this an excuse? You echo and reflect a lot of ugliness. Humour? Parody? Regardless, the underlying darkness is very sad and, unfortunately, Greater Vancouver. Humor in stereotypes, perhaps. Inaccuracies and over-generalizations are apparent however although this is your personal interpretation. Bringing hatred to the forefront as “art” certainly is subjective. Housing affordability issues led you to this map. The racism behind this is something I’ve yet to understand particularly since this is a country of immigrants. Housing affordability and lack thereof has been an ongoing problem in Vancouver. As a now 50-year-old mixed race woman, born and raised in Vancouver, I am grateful to have not believed every person who told me I will never afford a home in Vancouver. And now I’m onto my second, this one in West Van (my first was in East Van, Commercial Drive and 5th Ave.). I’m not Persian, I’m not Asian, I’m not old white money. Yet I have a nice home in West Van. I do remember when old white money told my parents they could not buy a home in West/North Van (“no colored folk allowed”; but those of us who could pass for “white” go the ok). I worked since age 7. Went to university. Saved, saved, saved. Shared accommodations. Began saving and planning when I was 16. I did forgo some parties, trips with friends, nice clothes, and other things; but, I wanted a home of my own. It can be done. Maybe today’s expectations of graduating at 21 and immediately owning a downtown Coal Harbour condo is out of reach. But to start, something in the suburbs is an option as equity is built. It’s not impossible; it just takes some serious financial discipline. I don’t blame any Asians, Persians, Italians, Greeks…other ethnic groups for any struggles I’ve endured including my path to home ownership. Having said all that, I do appreciate how the map may have been a cathartic experience. And, your colorful works of art depicting Vancouver do make me smile.
The housing crisis exacerbated the xenophobia that perhaps always lurks here and everywhere. It’s a lot of blame, fear, and noise which in turn attracts more of the same.
Every Vancouverite’s mettle is in part made up of a sort of pride at living in a city that is consistently ranked as one of the world’s most unaffordable; I suppose it speaks to our ability to endure.
I believe you mean your xenophobia, prejudice, and beliefs. The map is your art; it is a reflection of you. My pride in being a Vancouver homeowner has nothing to do with my struggles. I like living here for many reasons; one of which includes diversity (not just racial). Perhaps in the future, I will want to live elsewhere; in another country, or in a city that is hard to find housing. Overcoming obstacles in order to buy a home is not unique to Vancouver. Even those within the most affordable cities in the world speak of what they’ve had to endure to purchase a home. Lack of affordability in Greater Vancouver, or anywhere else for that matter, comes down to basic economics: supply and demand. Moreover, it is curious that you fail to acknowledge how European investments (corporate and individuals) have affected the BC real estate market. Your inability to purchase a home in Vancouver led to xenophobia, gross racial and other distasteful types of commentary (particularly the victims of a horrific crime that is a part of Greater Vancouver’s history). The map does not depict the truth and reality behind why you are unable to buy a home in Vancouver. However, the xenophobia, racism, stereotypes, etc. are a sad, truthful commentary about the smoldering ugliness that exists here, within you, and within many others. Vancouver, in general, is too polite to display its MAGA (Make America Great Again) type rhetoric, although you freely choose to embrace it.
It doesn’t surprise me but it always makes me a little philosophical when I see how people assemble meaning. People often assume things and I guess that’s how racism works, too. But how and why do assumptions happen? Is it from an absence of information, a reluctance to ask questions, cognitive bias, or simply haste? I wondered this when I made the map.
Thank you for demonstrating assumption. Each “you” address in your comment above makes an assumption about my intentions, my beliefs, my work, my housing situation, and even my apparent knowledge of European investments (corporate and individual) in Vancouver.
As I said to another commenter, musing about the many assumptions and reactions that this map brings out in people is a far more interesting exercise than creating the map ever was so thank you for your comments. I appreciate your intention.
I think I can see what you’re trying to do, with this map here. But the problem isn’t what your intention is. Rather, it’s the execution.
Which is… probably failing. Remarkably.
See, if your intent is to parody or expose all the racism and related bigotries that people have about Vancouver, you’re making the most common mistake that people make when they claim to be “parodying” something. Which is…. simply DOING the thing that your trying to parody.
For instance, some people try to exaggerate racist attitudes to make them look more ridiculous. They believe this will work as “parody” and will count as criticism against those racist attitudes. But the problem is… this doesn’t often work. You’ll just be adding to the overall culture of racist attitudes, helping it grow bigger, regardless if your INTENT was that it’s so exaggerated that clearly no one could take it seriously.
This might not be your EXACT take on this, but it’s clearly a similar problem. You label an area with “Turbans and Saris, probably terrorists” but there nothing on the map that suggests this isn’t your own, real-life beliefs. If you’re just trying to expose the thought patterns that still exist, or maybe make a joke about them, or engage in critical thinking….. there’s nothing here that suggests that. It just looks like you’re regurgitating the same old bigotries that we already see every day. And I think that’s the problem.
This video has some great commentary on satire and portrayals of offensive material. It might help, and you might find it interesting:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=62cPPSyoQkE&t=104s
Hi Hayley. I think I can see what you were getting at with your comment here. But the problem isn’t what your intention is. Rather, it’s the execution.
See what I did there? The above lines are a parody of your comment, which is “an imitation of the style of a particular writer with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect” (I plugged “parody” into Google just to make sure) except I didn’t exaggerate at all so I guess it’s not very funny. Least of all, I’m sure, to you.
When you write, “IF your intent was to parody or expose all the racism…” your leading syllogistic IF is a big nope. People often assume they know what I was trying to do. While many found the map comical, I explained above how I originally did it for therapy. CTV asked me if I was a racist and I responded “I don’t know.” Or, in your words: am I simply DOING the thing?
I’ll repeat what I said to another commenter: artists respond to the world around them and their job is to depict it in the way they experience it.
Thanks for the video link. I don’t know if it will help but it is interesting. Ms. Ellis, like Malcolm Gladwell in The Satire Paradox (S1E10 of Revisionist History) observes that people often misinterpret intention, like how Republicans cheer on Stephen Colbert’s Republican values and think he’s speaking truth to power. Punching up, if you will. However, Gladwell observed that humour blunts the message and that can be a problem; satire isn’t what it used to be.
Personally, musing about the many assumptions and reactions that this map brings out in people is a far more interesting exercise than creating the map ever was so thank you for your comment. I appreciate your intention.
Reading this in 2017! First reaction: this is hilarious and incredibly accurate. (And I’m Asian) But seeing the comments I do feel as if some of the jokes are quite tasteless, especially the one referencing the Pickton murders, but since people have pointed that out and you do seem regretful about it I’m not going to beat the point to death.
But regarding your comments for marissa, I think you haven’t engaged sufficiently with some of the points she made, however confrontational they may be. Thank you for choosing to not hide behind anonymity when you published the map (I’m not cynical enough to believe you did this for publicity), but claiming that you were just compiling what other people said on Tumblr and other forums for the labels seems to me another convenient way to dodge responsibility. This map is your work; you were in full control of what to put on there and what stereotypes to perpetuate. The other maps being more offensive doesn’t automatically make your map ok. Other anonymous trolls out there saying even more awful things doesn’t what you say ok either 🙁
Also I took some issues with how you responded to her. I know marissa wasn’t very respectful to you and she has no right to claim that you’re just a privileged white woman (because class and persistent social problems cut across all races.) However, I do think you should have been the better person and not resorted to condescendingly telling her she needs to grow up or get off tumblr, because dismissing her concerns by saying essentially “don’t like don’t read” looks really bad on your end. And I want to believe you meant well. Could you please address her points (eg. the glaring disparity between offensiveness of jokes: soccer moms vs. blind chinese drivers) more meaningfully?
All in all if this is just for entertainment then I can take a joke but if you really wanted to initiate some conversation about race/its role in the housing crisis I think this may not be the best way…
Thanks for setting this up so we can discuss and replying to every comment! I hope you do see mine even though it’s about a year later lol
Thanks for your comment, Cici. Several other artists and I were having an online discussion about a work in the Whitney Biennale that caused a lot of controversy. There were good points made on artists, their role in society, and when people get upset at what is portrayed and demand to take something down or destroy it, is it censorship? Whose responsibility is it to make that call? The artist, the gallery, who? The art world seemed pretty split on this one.
But one strong point that was made is that artists respond to the world around them and their job is to depict it in the way they experience it. CTV asked me if I was a racist and I responded “I don’t know.” Am I being racist by publishing this map – and, no, I didn’t do it for publicity or money – or am I responding to what I was sensing in my city? I said I originally did it for therapy.
In order to address that commenter’s points, I would need to have a dialogue, preferably face to face (which I offered to do) because anonymous commenting-and-running is part of the problem. I said, “Don’t believe all you read on Tumblr” because I have a low opinion of a platform that seems largely anonymous to me and composed almost entirely of reactions rather than dialogue, which is kind of the point. The dialogue ended there because my invitation to “fix the map” was never answered. I suppose I could have been kinder, though if I recall, I really was trying to be because I have a child who was that age.
At any rate and after all this time, my role is not to direct the conversation. I would rather leave that to the politicians and critics and whoever runs the internet.
I came here to post about the “pigs” too. Hadn’t read ever single area as well that area is the “boonies” ?
My friend just commented about it and that’s when it was brought to light. Instead of being ashamed of it why not revise it! I’m sure you can find some other label for it! It just does not belong there!!!!
Oh, Facebook and your “Memories” function. I find it interesting that the map is still shared.
Alright. The map was made at a specific point in time – September, 2015 – when there seemed to be a lot of hate whirling around Vancouver. Real estate prices. Election issues. That label about the pig farm was something I read referencing Vancouver real estate and how even [pejorative racist term] wouldn’t build houses where there were … well, you see the label. The map, for me, was a perceived Word Cloud of a city I love. That’s what I was ashamed about: divisiveness causes us to not pay attention but sometimes humour does, too.
Sometimes ugly things happen in pretty places so when you can’t crack jokes you write it down and try to make sense of it. Now this map has become a funny thing instead of a serious thing, so I changed that label to: “Gruesome Pig Farm. Worst Date Ever.” I hope this is an improvement.
One third think you are a monster. One third love the racist jokes (geez Dan Van). One third understand what you were actually trying to get at.
I guess that’s the rule of thirds, eh?
I’m Asian. I liked the map, and your willingness to be public about it. 🙂
Well done Laura!! Its about time someone step up and said whats most ppls are thinking but to damn coward to speak without that mask. I applause your courage and words of truth.
Racism are everywhere but no one dare speak of it. The first step in solving a problem is to admit that there is a problem. Second is awareness follow by solution if any exist.
This mixing of culture, races and religion was purposely planned many decades ago in order to trigger a violent tsunami of hatred and destruction among us. Europe will be first. Evidently. While we re canceling each others, a small group of devil worshiper hidden in darkness waiting, hoping, praying to achieve full power and control over us. History will repeat again as it happen in Germany and Russian.
Now,who are the fuck are those people’s you may ask…?? Answer: follow the $$$$$,look at small minority(they re on map) and find out which race or religion you cannot criticize… 😉
This map is not just funny but truthful. We need more truths in a world full of lies and BS. I really and truly love this useful map. 🙂
Could you map out Toronto also? Pls!! Lol
Laura,
would you mind emailing me a higher resolution version?
Thank You
I love it!
I’m curious, and new to Vancouver…. Can you explain the dead whales and human smugglers? …. I’m one of those joggers/ runners around stanely park…. Do I need to like actually fear my safety or run elsewhere? Totalled loved most of the insane other items on this map and totally agree with all the freaking condos batman!
Dead whales: there have been some that washed up with propeller injuries in Howe Sound. This bugs me. The “almost dead whales” in Stanley Park is a reference to the aquarium controversy.
Human smugglers: this is hyperbole. I don’t know and seriously hope that such a thing never happens here BUT I remember reading in some architectural forum (? my memory is foggy) how some of the new condo designs look just like shipping containers. I’ve also heard there are shipping containers that are being repurposed for condos. Maybe they’re joking. I can’t tell anymore.
Joggers vs. Runners: Apparently, if you make it all the way around to Siwash rock, you’re a runner. If you just do the lighthouse, you’re a jogger. I don’t even make it out of East Van so I’m not sure what I am.
As for the CONDOS, yeah. The “humour” is all in the juxtaposition.
BTW, Ivan Decker (local comedian) has a great routine on runners vs. joggers.
Hahaha, what the fuck?
You can’t rationalize easy, racist jokes by claiming that “some Chinese people found it the funniest”, or blame your poor taste on the fact that you were feeling down on the city at the time. (Good for you!) And because your joke offends everyone to different degrees (Quinoa eaters? Wow, that hurts Laura.) all of your cheap shots cancel out and nobody is offended? I can’t believe I’m taking the time to try and explain to you what’s wrong with your immature map and how long people have tried to escape from ridiculous, racist generalizations like the ones you make here. Maybe I can’t externalize the outrage and second-hand embarrassment that I have for you right now because I’m fifteen years old, despite the fact that I have been profiled and disadvantaged for all my life– and will continue to be– for being a minority. Your cute little map speaks volumes about how bitter, entitled (white) people with an upper hand like yourself find it funny to toy with offensive stereotypes and take advantage of the stigmatization of others around you.
To some extent I hope you will reply with more BS as reasonable justification from your advantageous point of view so I can see what it’s like to live as a privileged and happily ignorant white person.
Hi Marissa,
First, thank you for your comment. You are very eloquent for a fifteen-year-old. In fact, I almost don’t believe you are fifteen because I have some experience talking with fifteen year olds but I’ll take what you say at face value.
Next, did my map offend you or did the media portrayals about me and the map offend you, or did this particular post offend you? The ridiculous, racist generalizations are exactly what I found on the internet: I went to places like 4Chan and Tumblr and sports talk forums and Steam. Have you been there? If not, please don’t. If my map offended you, then you are in no way ready for the anonymous tirades out on the internet where people say whatever they want while hiding behind masks of fake ids and personas.
And thank you for actually sending your email address. Did you see the other two Vancouver maps that were published? Were they more or less offensive than mine? I have heard that another one was voted more offensive. By the way, these were both posted anonymously.
My main point is that anonymity is the problem. Jaron Lanier said “the internet makes people mean.” I agree but I think it’s more than just the medium of the internet: it’s the ability to say shit without owning it. That’s not good.
I put my name on my map. I have no idea what it is like to be you. I have no idea what it is like to be a “profiled and disadvantaged” fifteen year old. I’m a middle aged white Canadian-born female in the “creative class” (that’s a euphemism that means I live below the poverty line). I guess that’s privileged to some.
Here is my conclusion: the one point in my favor is that I published my map under my name. I’m not going all “Gran Torino” here, but I remember well the lesson they taught me in elementary school: if you’re gonna say something, say it to my face.
If you want to make a new map, I’m happy to help. There’s my contact info up there. Thanks for your comment. You seem very smart. Don’t believe all you read on Tumblr.
I live in Irvine California and the influx of immigrant Asians there in the last decade is noticeable to say the least.
I have no idea where they come from but the are obviouly bent on making Irvine their home.
Many pay cash for homes. They are very active politically and have successfully slated candidates for office locally and county wide.
But they are very clannish and it is hard to get to know them.
So it is rather alarming that a diffident group of a particular ethnic persuasion has inundated what used to be a very multi cultural city.
Is that racism? Maybe. But I guess the Indians experienced a similar feeling.
The “OMG Rich Chinese people are buying all *our* homes” seems to be a big issue in Vancouver. I keep hearing how they (the government?) “outlawed this” in Australia and/or the UK. I don’t know if they mean “outlaw” like actual law or severe (prohibitive) tax penalty.
This is just what I hear and I don’t know law at all. I suppose that, in part, is what prompted this map. There’s this cry that something should be done about it all because no one can afford to live here anymore. But what is to be done? I don’t know the answer to that. I can probably Google “what is to be done” and come up with some theories. 😉
As somebody born and raised in Vancouver, I myself was amused by it more than anything else.
I’d like to get a better look at it but I can’t find a copy of it with decent enough resolution to read all the captions. It gets pretty tight around downtown and some of the writing is too small to read. Is there a better link that I can look at this thing without struggling trying to use a jewelers loop?
I can send you one. Or here’s a zoomed in version: https://scontent-sea1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpf1/t31.0-8/12473811_10154522560097119_2033387527902359101_o.jpg
Didn’t realize there was a Jewish section in Point Grey? Kits? I thought they were more in Shaughnessy/Oakridge.
Around Oakridge, yes, and somewhere near Arbutus & 16th, too.
Cool map. Makes a person look at Vancover differently, some funny some not, but hey art is supposed to make a person think or feel something so great job.
Thanks, Tim. That’s basically it. Some of this stuff is joked about openly; some is not joked about but is rather assumed secretly. The danger is in the latter.
I would buy a poster!!! How can we order when ready??
I’ll order some this week and I’ll post something when they’re available.
me too please!
i’m framing this!
Cut up dead chicks? These were women brutally killed and this is fodder for you? I feel so saddened that a female artist would find this amusing. You should be ashamed. What if one of these women was your sister or friend. Show some decency
@ Kirsten – Oh, I think that one is awful, too. It made me shudder when I saw it in the comments section of another website. That one is most definitely not humour for me because, well, I was offended. But it was a real web comment left on a real website by some anonymous poster.
so why would you put that there? that is the worst thing ever, way more offensive than anything else! what a coward you are, people like you stigmatize it even more and make women’s lives more dangerous when you give predators and killers a platform, you should be ashamed of yourself.
I am absolutely ashamed.