Canadian Mosaic Project

THE STORY OF THE CANADIAN MOSAIC PROJECT

“The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been and the memories we’ve made along the way.”  Anonymous

 

We rarely notice what is around us. Most days we head downtown, do our shopping and other errands and go home. However, one day while strolling along Cow Bay, in Prince Rupert, B.C., we spotted an RV that from a distance looked like it was painted with the Canadian flag. As we got closer, I could see that it was a mosaic made from thousands of photos of people. The owner of this RV is photographer Tim Van Horn. He was on a mission. To best describe what his mission is, the following is an excerpt from his website:  www.canadianmosaic.ca

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At age five, Tim Van Horn had already taken his first photograph and had decided on a life path as a “cameraman.” Growing up and traveling around Canada within the Canadian military, Tim was hooked on movement, cultural experience change and wanted to create a lifetime journey as a photojournalist.

Tim’s vision has always been to create innovative visual documents that educate, enlighten and pay homage to the beauty and wonderment of life itself. The fact that Canada is such a culturally diverse country inspires Tim. Currently, with the Canadian Mosaic Project, Tim sees himself as a creative foot soldier on his tour of duty for his people, for humanity, listening to, reflecting and studying life in everything and everyone around him. A mix of visual anthropology and a humanitarian mission, the Canadian Mosaic Project is executed with an open exploring mind. Tim is armed with a camera in one hand and a grand vision to unite people in the other.

On October 1, 2008, Tim Van Horn left his home in Red Deer, Alberta on what was to be a year-long photography journey to photograph everyday Canadians for the project. Six and a half years later, Tim has crossed Canada five times, in all seasons and photographed 40,000 Canadians on the sidewalk of life from every province and territory in Canada.

Tim’s mission is to photograph 54,000 (.150% of the population) from 1000’s of intersections from across the land. For Canada’s 150th birthday, a living tapestry of 54,000 souls will be woven together into a mosaic using the Canadian flag.”

 

Check out his website and pay for a km or two to help with this inspiring project. We had our picture taken and later were able to view it on the website. It is an interesting site and I found myself spending time looking at all the places and people he has photographed. I never cease to be amazed at the ideas and talent that people have. Well done, Tim.

You will never know what you will find in your hometown. So keep your eyes open (we certainly will) and it may surprise you what you will see.

DISCLAIMER: The photos are not mine. Tim kindly sent me these photos as my husband had accidentally deleted ours, and yes, he is still alive!

 

2 replies
  1. Barb Gorsline
    Barb Gorsline says:

    Love this blog. What an interesting man and project. Glad you saw him and were able to write about him…..and also Hubby is still alive.

    Reply

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