Not since Joe was selling cigarettes to children has so much controversy surrounded a single camel. The Lady was unveiled this past Wednesday on Lonsdale Avenue and, in the tradition of public art pieces everywhere, she was met with puzzlement and scorn.
It’s illogical, critics charge. The sculpture depicts a one-humped dromedary camel and not a two-humped Bactrian – the camel used so briefly and disastrously during B.C.’s gold rush (although never in North Vancouver).
We concede these criticisms but we’re still moved to defend The Lady’s honour.
True, the camel doesn’t belong in North Vancouver. But in that respect, it has a great deal in common with most of us. We’re a city of immigrants, second- and third-generation explorers, and wayward wanderers who’ve made our homes amid floodplains, landslides and earthquake risks.
And while the camel doesn’t connect us to our past at least it connects us to each other. The power of public art is that it turns a street corner into our street corner.
The Lady needn’t be amended or apologized for in the name of historical accuracy or cultural relevance or even good taste.
The writer Rebecca West once wrote, “There is no logical reason why the camel of great art should pass through the needle of mob intelligence.”
The importance of the art isn’t that we love it. A majority may hate it. What’s really important is that we’re doing something together.
Each time we admire or mock or laugh at the camel we’re creating something distinct, something that’s ours. It isn’t logical. It’s something much more important.
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