Not many photographs are as large as this one, the size of a 19th-century history painting. But history paintings tended to celebrate mythological heroes or royalty or military victories, while Douglas captures a more local and complicated moment: a clash between marijuana backers, overbearing police, and a privileged middle class.
Several fairly isolated social groups come together in this tense scene: a well-heeled middle class, the police, and marijuana-supporting hippies, not to mention the folks just passing through. The staged image brings them altogether in a single, compressed moment so we can closely examine the forces at play.
The phrase “pics or it didn’t happen” could be the caption for this photo, which celebrates a forgotten moment in local Vancouver history. Its grand size proclaims, “Look at what’s happening. Remember it. It is important.” Focusing on lost histories is a common subject in contemporary art, as artists reveal how our usual ways of processing events can overlook important moments of history.
Look at where you are looking from: high above the scene. Douglas took the picture from a crane—a powerful viewpoint—as if endowing the viewer with a special ability to look back in time.