Vancouver Foundation

p a g e 2 0 I V a n c o u v e r F o u n d a t i o n l 2 0 1 7 Photo: Zack Embree VANCOUVER'S GASTOWN NEIGHBOURHOOD, abutting the Downtown Eastside, is known for its red brick buildings, cobblestone roadways, graffitied walls, steam clock, Woodward's and Dominion buildings, tech cluster and busy restaurants and pubs. e people who navigate its streets are as heterogeneous as their environment: entrepreneurs, academics, artists and activists, as well as those struggling with poverty and addiction. Seated at a sturdy wooden table in a sleek, minimalist Gastown condo is Teresa Pocock. By way of greeting, she throws her arms in the air, exclaiming, "I am a self- advocate!" – a sincere and indisputable declaration. It wasn't an easy journey, but Pocock has learned to express herself as an artist and an activist, drawing the attention of thousands of people including politicians. Pocock was inspired to become a working artist thanks in large part to a $1,000 Vancouver Foundation Downtown Eastside Small Arts Grant in 2016, which motivated her to create enough individual works to launch a solo show. "It really helped Teresa blossom into a professional artist," says older sister Franke James, with whom she lives, along with brother-in-law Bill James, in the Gastown home filled with books and art. Pocock's inaugural exhibit premiered June 29, 2016 and showcased an array of richly illustrated poetry, mounted bus-poster size on the walls of Gastown's Gallery Gachet. Opening night doubled as the book launch for Pocock's self-published Pretty Amazing: How I Found Myself in the Downtown Eastside, and a selection of the book's poems and illustrations were part of the exhibit. e bold verse, as well as Artistic Ability the jewel-coloured art, show an individual who is confident about asserting her place in the world, writing in the poem I Am Alive: "Redeemed/Okay, I am reborn/In Gastown." "Now she can say she's an artist and a poet," says Bill. "It has given her a huge sense of purpose to her life." What makes these accomplishments so significant – extraordinary even – is that Pocock has Down syndrome. As her book title alludes, her life has not followed a simple course. In early 2013, Pocock's elderly father, with whom she lived in Toronto, had failing health and was about to move to a care home. Several siblings placed Pocock, the youngest of seven, in a long-term seniors care facility without their father's approval. Franke and Bill, along with Pocock's dad, spent four days wrangling with government officials, nursing home management and even the police to get her out. Pocock then went to live permanently with Franke and Bill. at wasn't the end, however. With the help of Franke and Bill – who are business partners in the communications firm e James Gang, Iconoclasts – Pocock made a campaign video for the website change.org protesting her confinement and demanding atonement while asserting the rights of the disabled. e petition, launched on World Down Syndrome Day on March 21, 2014, called out the Ontario government for supporting her placement in an institution that was clearly unsuited Once forced to live in a senior's care facility, Teresa Pocock has created a home, and a body of work, in Gastown By RobeRta Staley

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