Featured by the Vines Art Society and DTES SAG Exhibition EMERGE, Winters’ Hotel: A (Re)memory examines home and displacement amid Vancouver’s gentrification.
“In 2022, I witnessed first-hand, the fire that consumed the historic Winters Hotel in Gastown, claiming two lives—a preventable tragedy stemming from negligent oversight. This is common across many Single Room Occupancy (SRO) buildings in the Downtown Eastside. Although I was not a Winters resident, the witnessing impacted me as a SRO tenant myself. This led to a multi-year project to recreate a memory of the building using archival photos.
I spoke with former tenants, listening to their stories. I engaged with community leaders to better understand the housing crisis plaguing the DTES. I ventured into 3D modeling—an entirely new medium, pushing myself to learn and experiment.
As the demolition crew turned the building into rubble in the following days, we witnessed the lives of a community undone because of greed and negligence. Today, in a city grappling with a severe housing crisis, more than three years after the incident, the Winters lot still sits vacant like an open wound.”
– Pari, 2025
PARI MOKRADI 