It wasn't the best welcome to the neighbourhood. The first work of art to be installed by the Audain Gallery at SFU Woodward's in the Downtown Eastside has been vandalized, days after it was installed.
I Said No by Vancouver artist Ken Lum was hanging in the window outside the gallery on Hastings Street when one of the panels in the text-based work, which was installed Dec. 30, was partly ripped off. The gallery's curator, Sabine Bitter, says the incident does not give her second thoughts about opening a gallery in the Downtown Eastside. She has ordered a new panel and says it will be reinstalled as soon as possible.