HistoryLink Tours

bamboo, luminous by Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew (2008)

Turning left onto 5th Avenue S you’ll find Jacqueline Metz and Nancy Chew’s work bamboo, luminous, marking the entrance to the fire station’s Emergency Operations Center. The sixteen-foot yellow-green colored resin tubes are lit inside by energy-efficient LED lighting and mimic the majestic nature and gentle sway of bamboo reeds. Metz&chew, as they are known, are an artistic duo who have worked collaboratively since the late 1990s. Chew is a first-generation Canadian of Asian descent who grew up on Vancouver Island next to the Cowichan Tribes where she navigated diverse cultures and identities: Western, Chinese, and indigenous. Metz grew up on the British Columbian mainland and spent her childhood exploring the forests and appreciating the natural world. They describe their combined artistic practice as one that is “conceptual yet grounded in place — a practice centered on the public realm, an exploration of place and perception.”

The artists intended bamboo, luminous to reflect the characteristics of the area’s Asian communities and the personnel of Fire Station 10, the Emergency Operations Center, and the Fire Alarm Center. The work symbolizes resilience and adaptiveness and is a metaphor for the strength and endurance of immigrants, many of whom built and reside in the surrounding neighborhoods. “Asian communities and service personnel … are linked and honored by the metaphor of the enduring bamboo clustered together.”

Walk back (south) turning right onto S Washington, then turn left onto 4th Avenue S. Then walk two blocks south, turn right onto S Jackson Street, and walk one block to the park between 2nd Avenue Extension S and 3rd Avenue S