Reinventing the Royal City
Like the Truman Show, but different
In the 1998 film, The Truman Show, the main character, Truman Burbank lives in a fabricated world — the set of a reality television show. Truman is unaware that Seahaven Island, where he has lived since birth, is located inside an enormous dome where actors and crew members control every aspect of his life.
Truman’s world is a picturesque fantasy neighbourhood filled with white picket fences and manicured lawns, where five thousand hidden cameras record his every move.
The concept of a fabricated fantasy world was the inspiration for this series of images featuring New Westminster, British Columbia, Canada. This city, located on the banks of the mighty Fraser River has been my home for the past thirty years.
New Westminster (colloquially known as New West) is western Canada’s oldest city — established in 1859 as the capital of British Columbia. The city was named by Queen Victoria, as a result, New Westminster’s nickname is “The Royal City.”
At present, there are plans to rebrand the city. Efforts to drop the “Royal” moniker and the crown logo are underway. They have been deemed as outdated colonial anachronisms that no longer represent the city’s spirit.
