Poetics of Land . Stories of Place
Community workshop ceonceived, organized, and faciliated by Alyssa Schwann with Mike Seymour.
Held in Richmond BC in May 2019.
Photographs courtesy of Janis Nicolay.
Community workshop ceonceived, organized, and faciliated by Alyssa Schwann with Mike Seymour.
Held in Richmond BC in May 2019.
Photographs courtesy of Janis Nicolay.
Located on the greenway, the ‘Wind Flowers’ public art work will become a ‘gateway’ expressive of the city’s diverse communities and ecologies. The sculpture, as a new artifact, creates a new story. However, this new story must have foundations in existing narratives which the communities of Richmond hold within their collective and individual histories.
This event was initiated by the Alyssa Schwann and Mike Seymour and sought to engage the community in conversations that explored the stories connecting us to this special place—stories filled with wisdom, history, and imagination; stories of Richmond’s past, present, and future. The artists see stories as opportunities to unite us by building shared knowledge; stories help bind a community together. Through telling and listening to stories, we create relationships with each other and with our city. Stories contribute to a collective knowledge – a shared knowledge rooted in a place.
Special guests each presented short ‘stories’ about the relationships we hold with this place: our heritage, ecological systems, and communities. Storytellers included: Richmond City Councilor Harold Steves, journalist Christopher Cheung, landscape architect Hanako Amaya, photographic artist Gerry Boretta, architect/planner Eric Fiss, entrepreneur Caroline Boquist, architect Czarina Ray, retired politician Linda Barnes, and Indigenous youth leader May Point-Shaw.
This event was initiated by the Alyssa Schwann and Mike Seymour and sought to engage the community in conversations that explored the stories connecting us to this special place—stories filled with wisdom, history, and imagination; stories of Richmond’s past, present, and future. The artists see stories as opportunities to unite us by building shared knowledge; stories help bind a community together. Through telling and listening to stories, we create relationships with each other and with our city. Stories contribute to a collective knowledge – a shared knowledge rooted in a place.
Special guests each presented short ‘stories’ about the relationships we hold with this place: our heritage, ecological systems, and communities. Storytellers included: Richmond City Councilor Harold Steves, journalist Christopher Cheung, landscape architect Hanako Amaya, photographic artist Gerry Boretta, architect/planner Eric Fiss, entrepreneur Caroline Boquist, architect Czarina Ray, retired politician Linda Barnes, and Indigenous youth leader May Point-Shaw.
