LARGE GALLERY

May 8 – June 13, 2026

“To make the private into something public is an action that has terrific ramifications.” -David Wojnarowicz  

Of Course This Hurts is a photography project that intimately documents the toxic drug supply crisis through the lives of people who are being impacted by this public health emergency. The images explore love, grief, bodily autonomy, trauma, and healing, as experienced by drug policy activists, frontline workers, people who use drugs, and their family members in British Columbia, where overdose is the leading cause of death for people aged 10-59. 

The photographs are of people from my community—people like Jeremy Kalicum, a scientist with a Masters of Public Health who is facing life in prison for operating a compassion club; Trey Helten, a harm reduction worker who dedicated his life to saving others; and Traci Letts, whose son died from an accidental drug overdose.  

In 2017 my own father died from an accidental drug overdose and my art practice shifted dramatically. His death created a specific urgency—it became essential to create in order to grieve and to survive that grief. As someone with lived experience, it’s important that the work I make challenges the cliche and harmful narratives perpetuated by prevalent media tropes that judge and demonize people who use drugs. I’m also interested in interrogating the role of photography itself, especially in communities that have been marginalized by the use of photography, and I’m inspired by historical photographers with this same goal, like Gordon Parks, and contemporary photographers like Stacy Kranitz, who explores “how photography can solidify or demystify stereotypes where it has failed to provide an equitable depiction of its people.” 

I also draw inspiration from artists like Nan Goldin, Marc Morrisroe, David Armstrong, and David Wojnarowicz, who documented living through the HIV/AIDS crisis in the 1980s and 1990s at a time when the government was similarly ignoring evidence-based information in favour of political gain. Like their work, my practice is diaristic and confessional, based in both auto-ethnography and social practice, and is  a historical record of existence that proves: We were here, this happened, our lives mattered. 

This is unlike any health crisis Canada has ever experienced, surpassing both Covid-19 and HIV/AIDS. Since the public health emergency was declared in 2016 over 40,000 people have died from opioid-related deaths in this country. For perspective, the first Canadian death attributed to AIDS occurred in 1983 and approximately 21,00 people have died from AIDS since then. 

Jackie Dives is a multi-disciplinary artist working within photography, video, performance, and installation. She uses both auto-ethnography and collaborative storytelling to address themes of social justice, trauma, grief, identity and community. Her work has been recognized by the Canada Council for the Arts, the B.C. Arts Council, and the Digital Publishing Awards, and has been exhibited and screened internationally including in venues such as the Burrard Arts Foundation (Vancouver), Gallery Gachet (Vancouver), and the Maysles Documentary Center (New York). Her clients include The New York Times, Time Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, and The Guardian, among others.