[Back Alley]

Ignored places. Ugly spaces.

“Back Alley” is a personal project of Stefan, documenting places in Vancouver, BC downtown that are in plain sight, but ignored, even avoided, by most residents and visitors. Back Alley shows the ugly and dirty face of a modern, prosperous city. These alleys are easy to miss when strolling up and down Granville St, Seymour St or how else all the nice and clean streets and avenues are called. In Stefan’s pictures you see people passing by in the distance, rarely taking notice of what is going on in this dark and narrow side streets. Homeless people inhabit these streets. They go through the many dumpsters to find something valuable. And they set up camps to stay overnight in a cold winter night. Chefs and other kitchen staff take a break for a smoke in the barely illuminated alleys. The city made an attempt to make some of the alleys nice by allowing artists to decorate them and paint the walls and floor. But most alleys are covered in graffiti and trash.