Spring 2023 - The Battle of Jericho

My eyes move back and forth between two scenes: there is the young woman being pulled simultaneously backward and upward, a foot or so above the pavement, as captured in mid-motion by photographer Ken Oakes, working for the Vancouver Sun newspaper. And then over to the left, almost lost amidst the scuffle, there is the seated young man who is being pulled upright by his hair. The so-called “Battle of Jericho” was said to have begun precisely two minutes before two in the afternoon on October 15, 1970. More than 200 young people, described by some as “hippies” or “transients,” had been occupying Building 47 on the old military base at Jericho Beach …


Bio:

Arni Haraldsson was born in Reykjavík, Iceland. His photographic work has been exhibited and collected internationally. He has written about visual art for numerous publications, including C Magazine, Canadian Art, Border Crossings, and Fillip. His fiction has appeared in Canadian Fiction Magazine and Pyramid Power. He is the author of Metaflowers, a Tsunami Editions chapbook. Currently he is a professor at Emily Carr University of Art and Design in Vancouver.

PHOTO CREDIT:

Material republished with the express permission of the Vancouver Sun, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.

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