03-05-2025
A space to call their own
After a year-long renovation, the much-loved Gallery Gachet is re-opening with a renewed focus on accessibility, community and resilience.
The overhaul reimagines the exhibition space to better showcase artists' work, while expanding the gallery's role as a creative hub. There is improved ventilation, an expanded bathroom, and enhanced heating and cooling so that the space can become a place of refuge during extreme weather.
With these changes, Gallery Gachet is reaffirming its commitment to fostering an inclusive, artist-centred environment for the Downtown Eastside.
At first inspection, it's not easy to spot Gallery Gachet at 9 W. Hastings St. — safeguarded by a green steel grid gate. You could easily pass by without ever knowing it's a gallery.
But Gallery Gachet has long been a vital space for marginalized artists, providing a platform to showcase their work and build community. Its mission is to support those who have experienced the mental health system, substance use, or social and political marginalization through art programs that centre creativity as a tool for survival, human rights and cultural participation. Every Monday, the gallery hosts art drop-ins, fostering a supportive and thriving environment where community members can connect and create.
Founded as a cooperative in 1992 and a non-profit society in 1993, Gallery Gachet takes its name from Dr. Paul Gachet — Vincent van Gogh's doctor in his final years. A supporter of struggling artists, Gachet not only treated Van Gogh after his release from the Saint-Paul-de-Mausole asylum in France, but also advocated for him, encouraging his artistic pursuits as a form of healing. The gallery follows this spirit by providing a haven for artists with lived experience in the mental health system, many of whom identify as psychiatrized survivors.
Originally located in Strathcona, Gallery Gachet relocated to the Downtown Eastside in 2000, where it has become deeply embedded in the neighbourhood. The gallery has expanded its programming beyond member-driven exhibitions to offer art that embraces community activism and social justice themes.
Sol Hashemi, artist and co-founder of the Veronica Project Space in Seattle, Wash., currently holds the position of communications director at Gallery Gachet. When Megaphone asked Hashemi why it was important to have a gallery like Gachet, he responded, 'Throughout its history, Gachet has been an important space for marginalized people to come together through art.'
Hashemi said that the gallery's commitment to supporting marginalized artists and communities is 'deeply rooted in its mandate and values,' recognizing the unique contributions of artists who are often overlooked by the art world, including those who are self-taught, disabled or who simply 'operate differently than the artistic mainstream.'
For Hashemi, the most memorable show at Gachet to date was Dion Smith-Dokkie's This Will Be the First of a Thousand Worlds We Give Life To, a 2023 exhibition featuring stretched acrylic skin paintings and works exploring themes of mapping. Smith-Dokkie's work delves into neo-colonialism, highlighting gestures that assert Indigenous autonomy in the face of continuing settler colonial dispossession.
The Gallery is a unique niche in the art community and its future looks colourful and bright. They will be holding a reception on May 8th, 6–8pm, 2025, in conjunction with the upcoming exhibition, An Injury on the Diasporic Imagination. Visit the gallery's website for details and exhibitions:
.
Jathinder Sandhu is a Surrey resident and a published poet, writer and member of The Shift peer newsroom. She won writing contests in high school, studied poetry post-secondary and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in communications. Jathinder also plays bass guitar.
