September 11 to October 29, 2026

As an ongoing project, Gabriola Photography Club curates the art display space downstairs at the Gabriola Medical Clinic on Church Street, Gabriola Island. Club members take turns having solo exhibitions or taking part in group exhibitions.

Our current exhibition features the work of Bill Pope, who asked himself a question: “What do you do with a selection of more than 15,000 photos of musicians, found within an image library containing more than 120,000 photos?”

Bill’s answer: “You express your gratitude to those musicians, by having a show!”

About half of the prints in this show are colour photos, and the rest are black and white photos, each depicting a musician with a musical instrument.  Each photo is printed on high-quality 13”x19” or 17”x22” paper.  Most of the pictures were taken on Gabriola Island, and most were taken over the last twenty years. 

Each picture is an environmental portrait: a depiction of a person showing the person’s character in the context of making music with an instrument.

You are invited to look at these pictures of musicians and their instruments.  More than that, you are also invited to look into the pictures, and feel the emotion and energy of the music and the musicians.

Bill Pope has been taking photographs for a long time.  He takes lots of pictures, and has earned the trust or tolerance of many musicians and other performers on Gabriola Island.  In Bill’s words: “Sometimes the results are pretty good.  This show includes some of those pretty good results.”

Photo © Bill Pope (Cultivate Festival performer, 2026)