Painting Murder

An artist faces public opposition as she struggles to mount a large-scale exhibition of paintings based on a police poster of missing women, twenty-six of whom are found murdered on a serial killer’s farm.  In 2006 Pamela Masik, a contemporary artist, set out to create a large-scale exhibition of paintings focused on women who went missing over the previous two decades on the streets of Vancouver.  Titled “The Forgotten”, this powerful series of sixty-nine portraits would be based on a police task force poster of the missing women’s headshots.

In 2007, pig farmer Robert Pickton stood trial for the murders of twenty-six women whose remains were found at his farm and slaughterhouse.  He would admit to an undercover police officer that he killed forty-nine.  The twenty-six women identified as Pickton’s victims are included on the task force poster and form part of Masik’s work.

Over a six year period we follow Masik’s struggle to exhibit this collection of paintings, and the public outcry that ensues.  All of this amidst a shocking murder trial; an inquiry into the police department’s failed investigation; and the families’ search for answers in Canada’s largest serial murder case in history.