Japhy Ryder
Mixed Media
Received grants in 2020 and 2021
Japhy Ryder is a multi-media bipolar artist, working across the fields of photography, music and literature.
His artworks begin as photographs, typically shot in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, and then undergo a process of shattering and recomposition to form new, provocative images. The intention is to articulate the process by which an individual struggling with addiction or mental health challenges experiences the world, first having to deal with the collapse of the structures many people take for granted, then the long a painful challenge of rebuilding and recreating meaning from the rubble that remains.
How has receiving a DTES Small Arts Grant supported your development as an artist?
I’ve been able to launch a professional-level literary chapbook. For my second edition, I’m able to pay my contributors, thanks to the grant. I feel this is important on a personal level, to recognized the value of other artist’s work, but also to attract better submissions to my chapbbook.
How has DTES Small Arts Grants helped DTES artists?
DTES artists often work outside the mainstream commercial artistic world. SAG has helped create a network of artists, supporting a level of professionalism that would not otherwise be possible.
How has DTES Small Arts Grants impacted the community?
Highlighting the creative aspect of a community that has some very difficult challenges to deal with.
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