On Loan from the Quesnel and District Museum and Archives

Upstairs at Wah Lee’s presents a remarkable and intimate portrait of life in the small frontier town of Quesnel.

Chow Shong (C.S.) Wing was born in Quesnel and became a partner in the family store, the Wah Lee Company. As a young man in the early 1900’s, he established a studio above the store, becoming the first professional photographer in Quesnel. In addition to views of sternwheelers and freight wagons, he also took portraits of local residents for post cards. He drew sitters from the First Nations, Chinese and “White” communities, perhaps because of his own minority status, or because they were people he knew in his role as a local shop keeper. A traveling exhibit on loan from the Quesnel and District Museum and Archives, the photos are unique in representing the mixing of cultures in a small frontier.