An aging man sits on a hill in an industrial suburb on the outskirts of Vancouver, observing the city extending before him. Although a sword is ostensibly stuck in his back, he appears calm and entirely indifferent to this fact. The sword captures our gaze, pricking the realistic scene and introducing its farfetchedness as a given, especially against the backdrop of the mundane panorama of roads, railway tracks, and industrial buildings. This is the first work in which Jeff Wall constructed a fantasy in a seemingly ordinary space by means of an implied, almost imperceptible fabrication – a modus operandi which will characterize many of his ensuing works.