The recent fractious debate over the siting of a housing project for the homeless on Elmbridge Way is not the first time controversy has come to the little parcel of land.
Wind the clock back eight years and every man and his dog were throwing their hands up in disgust and dismay at the installation, on the very same spot, of a contentious piece of public art.
Remember in the run-up to the Vancouver 2010 Olympics the 24-foot-high, giant chrome-like head of former Soviet Union leader Vladimir Lenin, with a tiny figure of former Chinese leader Lady Mao balancing on top?
We doubt any one of the hundreds of residents who wrote to the Richmond News to express their thoughts have forgotten, few of whom had anything positive to say about the stunning piece.
The work was part of the 18-month-long Vancouver Biennale public art exhibition, which included weird and wonderful objects dotted around Richmond, such as Wind Waves at Garry Point Park and a three-headed monster under the Canada Line guide way on No. 3 Road.
Ironically, despite protestations from residents claiming “Miss Mao Trying to Poise Herself at the Top of Lenin’s Head,” as it was titled, glorified communism and the controversial leaders, the work of art was created by the Chinese Gao Brothers, who consciously chose criticize to the political environment of their homeland.
However people decided to interpret the Lenin/Mao piece, it certainly got the job done when it came to the role of public art creating conversation, albeit a heated one in Richmond.
