Brooklyn-born B.C. photographer's 'Bed-in' photos included in Yoko Ono exhibit at Vancouver Art Gallery
A new exhibit of Yoko Ono's work debuted at the Vancouver Art Gallery on Saturday, featuring some photos with a B.C. connection.
Long-time Victoria resident Gerry Deiter was the only photographer present for the entirety of Ono and husband John Lennon's famous "Bed-in for Peace" at Montreal's Queen Elizabeth Hotel in 1969.
Deiter was covering the event on assignment for Life Magazine, but the photos never ran, their spot in the magazine taken by Vietnam War coverage.
Discouraged, the Brooklyn-born photographer packed the pictures away, eventually settling in Victoria.
There, he became friends with Joan Athey, and showed her the unpublished photos.
Athey tells CTV News Vancouver she remembers being struck by "the love, the intimacy in those photos, even though there were always at least 20 people in the room."
After the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, Deiter decided Ono and Lennon's message needed to be heard again.
"He wanted to rekindle the spirit of 'Give Peace a Chance,'" Athey recalls.
Deiter died just five days after his photos went on display for the first time at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria, but Athey purchased his collection and has continued telling the story of the Bed-in for Peace, which she says still resonates.
"You just have to look around," she says. "You can see the world is still in terrible turmoil."
The 24 photos from Deiter's collection that are part of Ono's "Growing Freedom" exhibition offer a window to the past, capturing a love and a message that captivated the world.
The exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery, which opened on what would have been Lennon's 81st birthday, will run until May 1.
With files from CTV News Vancouver's Nafeesa Karim
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