Vancouver artist captures renters' struggles and resilience

It’s no secret that renting in Vancouver can feel like a never-ending uphill battle.

In her first solo exhibition Under Lease, local artist Emily Cowan transforms the personal and collective experiences of renting into something tangible and vividly evocative.

Running Aug. 14 to 19 at Slice of Life Art Gallery, the show will feature 14 new works that explore the complex nature of finding joy in spaces marked by uncertainty. Each piece features an existing rental building in Vancouver, accompanied by the artist’s reflections on the housing crisis and the hopeless emotions of tenants navigating a challenging system.

“I don’t think I need to tell you that there is a rent crisis in the city,” Cowan tells V.I.A. “It’s unaffordable, there’s not a lot of legal protections for renters and not a lot of choice and autonomy that renters have over their houses and their lives.”

House as a hobby

Art has always been a part of Cowan’s life, as have houses.

“It’s always been an interest and a hobby of mine,” she says. “When I was younger, I knew I always wanted to grow up to have a home…get married, have babies and have my own house. Now, I’m an artist living in Vancouver, and I know that’s not going to happen.”

Cowan’s long-held fascination for houses eventually found its way into her art.

After completing her biggest comic project, a graphic novel, in 2017, Cowan took a long break from making art altogether. When she returned to art a few years later, she chose to approach it without the pressure of producing something for publication, and paint for herself.

“I don't remember exactly what made me try painting again, but there was just one day where I took a picture [of a house] on a walk and I thought it would make a nice painting,” she recalls. “I painted it and it just made me feel so good, so I started painting more regularly.”

With the encouragement from her boyfriend and his creative friends, Cowan took a bold step back into the art world—this time, with a deep curiosity for the concept of home as a place of safety, but also a reflection of status.

When reflecting on what it is that continues to compel her to portray houses, Cowan explains that it is multifaceted.

“Part of it is the housing crisis and coming to terms with, ‘Oh, I’ve accepted that I’m probably never going to have this thing that I always wanted,’” she says. “When I paint a house…it’s a way for me to honour and give love to that building that I wouldn’t be able to do in real life.”

Renters’ resilience

Cowan finds inspiration not only in the houses around her, but also in the materials she works with. She primarily uses acrylic gouache to achieve bold, vibrant colours that amplify the emotional weight of her paintings.

In her upcoming exhibition, Cowan seeks to capture both the vulnerability and the resilience of renters. Rather than a photo-realistic painting, her works are intimate portraits of people creating space and finding homes in a precarious environment.

“Sometimes it feels kind of hopeless, but those rented homes are still our homes and we still love them and care about them,” she explains. “There's a sense of resiliency that comes with trying to keep renting in the city, even when it feels impossible.”

The show features some of Cowan’s most ambitious works to date. Home Fires Burning, the largest painting she’s ever created, depicts a building at night with lit up windows where she used fluorescent paint that actually glows. Another nighttime painting, Night Lobby, captures the liminal space of an apartment lobby from an outsider’s perspective, providing a limited glimpse into the lives of people who may live in the building.

Cowan’s “architectural portraiture,” as she refers to the paintings of houses, are joined by a smaller mixed-media series she calls Landlord Specials. Using found hardware and house paint, these pieces comment on the often-neglected state of rental units.

“All landlords want to rent to responsible tenants who are going to take care of the building, but I don’t think tenants are inspired to take care of the building when the landlord doesn’t do so,” she says. “It becomes this vicious cycle between the two social groups and each of them blaming the other for the qualities of the not-well-done house.”

Cowan hopes Under Lease will touch renters, homeowners and landlords alike—albeit, in different ways.

“I want renters to walk away feeling heard and seen,” Cowan says. “I want owners to walk away, maybe feeling a little bit like their minds have been opened, or consider how the other half lives.”