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Gallery Gachet is a studio and gallery space in Vancouver for artists with mental health issues or who have experienced marginalisation.

  1. Gallery Gachet is located in a turbulent neighbourhood in Vancouver known as the Downtown Eastside (DTES). The DTES houses a concentrated amount of homeless and low-income residents. The area is renowned for its outstanding level of activism and care. Within the DTES a large network of support services caters for a wide spectrum of people facing addiction, mental health issues and poverty, both from the local community and across the country.
  2. The organisation operates as a Collective, which allows members to be actively involved in the running of the organisation. This non-hierarchical model aims to foster an open space where everyone is invited to contribute towards the development of the programme.
  3. The Collective’s main focus is programming for their onsite gallery, which is located in the heart of the DTES. The gallery is considered one of Vancouver’s leading contemporary art spaces.
  4. Gallery Gachet’s programme is seen as experimental and prides itself as an accessible platform for artists from a range of backgrounds.
  5. During my visit, Gallery Gachet had their core-funding cut, the organisation’s twenty-one year contract with the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority being brought to a sudden end.