PRESSURE POINT
What is this project?
Pressure Point is a reduced-barriers space for local artists to sell their artwork in a managed,
curated, and high-foot-traffic environment. This project is not-for-profit, meaning that
commissions from art sales go back into keeping the space open. We aim to reduce barriers
for emerging artists and share resources in solidarity with those targeted by systemic
barriers. Pressure Point prioritizes support for local emerging LGBTQIA2S+ and BIPoC artists
in so-called Vancouver.
*LGBTQIA2S+ refers to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, two-spirit, and more.
**BIPoC refers to Black, Indigenous, People of Colour.
These acronyms are complex and flawed, and they help us communicate who we aim to serve.
What organizations and spaces is Pressure Point connected to?
Pressure Point is a project of The James Black Gallery, an artist run centre across the street from
our shop location. This pop-up shop is located in the iconic City Centre Motel amidst 70 or
so studio artists, where a number of arts and culture festivals happen throughout the year.
What do you mean by 'pressure point'?
A 'pressure point' can mean a location on a structure that takes on a higher level of burden, rendering it susceptible to a higher level of damage. In settler-colonial capitalist culture, artists are often undervalued for their labour and placed in precarious positions, or cherry-picked for inclusion into oppressive systems of wealth-making. A pressure point is the location of precarity.
Those of us that live in bodies that are marked by the burdens of pressure often carry knowledge that brings us all closer to lives worth living. A pressure point is the place where wisdom is born.
A pressure point is also a place on the body where, when touched with knowledge and tenderness, can activate interconnected nerves that begin to heal systems throughout the whole body. A pressure point contains our innate capacity to transform.
An artist may keep knowledge, be a bridge between worlds, a creator of joy, a part of a network of people working towards a stronger cultural body. An artist touches, massages, these nodes of connection. A pressure point is precarity, wisdom, and transformation.
Accessibility Information
We are on the ground floor and are wheelchair accessible. Our washroom is very crowded and unfortunately not wheelchair accessible. Please let us know what other accessibility information you may need.
Location
RM 108 - 2111 Main Street, Vancouver BC
Hours
Saturdays and Sundays 12-5pm
email: store@thejamesblack.gallery
Frequently Asked Questions
Submissions accepted on an ongoing basis.