Greg Girard is a Canadian photographer whose work has examined the social and physical transformations throughout Asia’s biggest cities for more than four decades. Since returning to Vancouver, after 30 years based in Asia, he continues to photograph the transitions shaping the social and physical ..Read more

Greg Girard is a Canadian photographer whose work has examined the social and physical transformations throughout Asia’s biggest cities for more than four decades. Since returning to Vancouver, after 30 years based in Asia, he continues to photograph the transitions shaping the social and physical landscape of the city where he was born.

He is the author of several photographic books. City of Darkness Revisited, published 2014, revives an early collaboration with co-author Ian Lambot, and updates their influential book, City of Darkness: Life in Kowloon Walled City (Watermark, 1993).

Based in Shanghai between 1998 and 2011, his photographic monograph, Phantom Shanghai (Magenta, Toronto, 2007), with a foreword by novelist William Gibson, looks at the rapid and at times violent changes in China’s largest city as Shanghai raced to remake itself at the beginning of the 21st Century. The Independent (UK) cited Phantom Shanghai as one of the ten best photographic books ever made.

Other titles include American Stopover (Kominek, Berlin, 2024); JAL 76-88 (Kominek, Berlin, 2023); Tokyo-Yokosuka 1976-1983 (Magenta, Toronto, 2019); Hotel Okinawa (The Velvet Cell, Osaka, 2017); Under Vancouver 1972-1982 (Magenta, Toronto, 2017); Hanoi Calling (Magenta, Toronto, 2010); and In the Near Distance (Kominek, Berlin, 2010), a collection of early photographs made in Asia and North America between 1973 and 1986. In 2025 his latest book, “Snack Sakura”, a journey through the unique “snack” bar culture of Japan, will be published by Kominek, Berlin.

Most recently, Greg Girard’s iconic Under Vancouver series served as the captivating centerpiece of Lucie and Luke Meier’s Spring/Summer 2025 collection for Jil Sander, which debuted at Milan Fashion Week. This collaboration masterfully intertwined Girard’s photography of neon-lit, nocturnal Vancouver scenes from the 1970s and early ’80s with the refined, minimalist elegance of Jil Sander, resulting in a compelling fusion of fashion and art.

The International Centre of Photography in New York featured his series “Half the Surface of the World”, a survey of US military bases and their host communities in Asia, in 2012. His work is in the collection of M+ Museum Hong Kong, National Gallery of Canada, Art Gallery of Ontario, Vancouver Art Gallery and other public and private collections.

Dark Car (1982)
29.5 x 22 in | 38 x 28 in | 45 x 30 in | 60 x 40 in
Archival pigment print
Jewellery Store Window (1977)
22 x 29.5 in | 28 x 38 in | 30 x 45 in | 40 x 60 in
Archival pigment print
Lotus Hotel (1982)
22 x 29.5 in | 28 x 38 in | 30 x 45 in | 40 x 60 in
Archival pigment print
Silver Grill Café
22 x 29.5 in | 28 x 38 in | 30 x 45 in | 40 x 60 in
Archival pigment print
American Hotel (1975)
29.5 x 22 in | 38 x 28 in | 45 x 30 in | 60 x 40 in
Archival pigment print
East Hastings Street (Dusk) (1978)
22 x 29.5 in | 28 x 38 in | 30 x 45 in | 40 x 60 in
Archival pigment print
Bar Interior, Tsimshatsui (1985)
24 x 36 in | 61 x 92 cm
Archival pigment print
Kabukicho, Tokyo (1979)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
Shinjuku, 5:09 am (1979)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
All-night Cinema, Shinjuku (1977)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
Ikebukuro Subway Station (1976)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
Shinjuku, Early Evening Traffic (1977)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
Shibuya (1976)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
PussyCat Club, Wanchai (1974)
30 x 45 in | 77 x 115 cm
Archival pigment print
Bar and Black Jaguar (1974)
54 x 48 in | 138 x 122 cm
Archival pigment print

Allison Thompson is an Art Consultant & Interior Designer based in Los Angeles.