Photos and text by Elena Siemens CC-BY-NC 4.0 2025
I am on my way to North Vancouver to visit friends. Our SeaBus is a tiny dot against the oversized cranes that look like prehistoric creatures. It’s a surreal sight that brings to mind Salvador Dali’s Lobster Telephone (1938) in which 2+2 does not equal 4.
Now the enormous container ship itself comes in full view; it is identified as YM Movement Panama. The platform is loaded with containers painted in different colors. What do these colors signify? What is inside the containers? Where are they heading?
More riddles on arrival to North Vancouver, where a statue of a camel, another beast of burden, is placed near the Whole Foods store. What is this camel statue doing here? It’s Dali’s Lobster Telephone all over again.