Being There: Photography in Arthur Erickson’s Early Travel Diaries

The exhibition examines Arthur Erickson’s exchanges with people, places, landscapes, buildings, rituals, and ideas during his early travels in Europe and North Africa between 1950 and 1952, and in Asia in 1961. Drawing on a prescient understanding of site and environment, Erickson was convinced that architecture must be experienced to be understood. He knew that travel and the privilege of being present in different places would be a lifelong preoccupation and crucial to his continuing growth as an architect and thinker. Presented as a geographical and thematic reading, the exhibition is structured around two collections: Erickson’s letters to his family, teachers, colleagues, and friends; and photographs.