Description:
Shop Literati was a series of writing workshops led by artist in residence Bruno Zhu of A Maior that invited shopping lovers and haters to concoct a story together.
Through a blend of improvisation, LARPing, and speed dating, participants collaborated on developing the characters, narrative, and setting for the sequel to A Maior’s novella Retail Vérité (2023), which navigates thoughts on commerce, fashion, and popular culture to draw a portrait of contemporary retail phenomena.
These workshops generated the source material for Retail Vérité: Vancouverama (2026), co-published by Art Metropole, Beirke Verlag, and Western Front.
The cohort was James Albers, Kathy Feng, Manon Fraser, Fiona Glen, Tiziana La Melia, Ben Lickerman, Trey Le, August Mesic, Nina Ortiz, Paige Smid, and Yasmine Whaley-Kalaora.
Presented with support from the Audain Foundation.
Western Front is a non-profit artist-run centre in Vancouver.
We acknowledge the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish), and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh) Nations as traditional owners of the land upon which Western Front stands.