Neighbourly, 2020

Publications:

Contemporary Art Criticism Magazine, Issue 149:

https://cmagazine.com/issues/149/moving-at-the-speed-of-trust-on-teaching-social-practice

Artrise Website:

https://www.artrise.ca/annika-dixon-reusz

Keywords: community, making, digital, neighbourhood, connection, mending, textiles, artefacts

“During the fall of 2020 at Emily Carr University of Art and Design [ECUAD], I had the pleasure to take the class “Community Projects: Making across abilities.” In this course, I worked to build relationships with my neighbours through the sharing of artifacts and their stories. My project was a reflection on how objects are plentiful, how people are spending more time at home, and how spaces referred to as “home” are so commonly temporary. I thought a lot about how personal artifacts make up the spaces that we choose to live in, how they can transform a space from generic to intimate and reflect the lives we live. Through the sharing of a story of an object, we may learn a small token about our neighbour, further deepening our relationship with each other.

With these ideas in mind and with the goal of getting to know my neighbours I worked to exemplify how narratives can strengthen our value of objects and contribute to the building of a place within the community. This project was an opportunity for me to strengthen my social practice, through the challenges of online learning and Zoom connections. It was a wonderful experience to be able to meet my neighbours on Zoom, in the comfort of their own spaces. I was impressed with the keenness and generosity of my community, being eager to share and exchange stories. I documented and reflected my creative process in lots of different ways in the hopes of capturing and doing justice to all the diverse narratives that I gathered (photos, videos, mapping, questions, drawings, mending, stitching, sewing, embroidery).

I was inspired by how people were keen for their artifacts to visually reflect their stories and personality. This allowed for a much richer exchange of creativity between my neighbours and me. I see potential for this project to grow because neighbours continue to reach out to me with the hopes of sharing more stories. I have thoroughly enjoyed the process and opportunity to take part in this class and to work on this project. I hope that the learnings and the connections that I have gained will continue to influence my work in the future. It is so wonderful to now be able to walk down my street and know the names and some stories of those who live behind the doors, up the driveways and through the gates.”