A photo on display at the Bytown Museum shows seniors at a free fitness class at the Sandy Hill Community Centre.
At the top of a creaking set of wooden stairs in the Bytown Museum, one finds the usual assortment of artifacts depicting the history of Ottawa.
But looking into the two rooms at the back of the museum, there is a very different display. Instead of antiques lining the walls, there are contemporary photographs with captions ranging from a few words to a few paragraphs.
This is the “My Neighbourhood, My Voice” exhibit which runs until April 4.
About 125 community members from 90 different neighbourhoods in Ottawa were asked to take photos of what they like in their community or what needs to be fixed.
A group of women from the Ottawa Senior’s Action Network contributed to the exhibit by working with the Centretown Community Health Centre to take photos of their neighbourhood.
“The main issue that came up among them was a lack of greenspace and parks and overcrowding in the downtown core. Too many condos, not enough parks. Too much traffic; it’s not a liveable place,” says Elizabeth Kristjansson, a professor at the University of Ottawa, who came up with the idea.
While working on a report about neighbourhoods in Ottawa, Kristjansson wanted to learn more about how the community members felt about where they lived. So, she and Chris Osler, a community developer, decided to implement this project.
The initiative was based on a concept called photovoice.
“Photovoice is the idea is to give people who don’t usually have access to power a voice through the medium of photography,” says Kristjansson,
The initial project ended with a one-day exhibit at city hall last June, so that city council could see for themselves what changes their residents wanted within their neighbourhoods.
“We knew that that wasn’t enough. We didn’t want to put all the photos in a box and never see them again,” says Osler.
At the same time, Mike Steinhauer, director of the Bytown Museum, had just made the decision to keep the museum open for the winter months.
“Once the decision was made to stay open, I was looking for projects that I could possibly host,” says Steinhauer.
Unfortunately, he didn’t have the resources or the capacity to undergo the in-depth research for an exhibit like this.
“The situation with ‘My Neighbourhood, My Voice’ was ideal,” says Steinhauer.
Steinhauer says he has seen a remarkable increase in the number of visitors and that this exhibit is a chance to rediscover the museum.
The “My Neighbourhood, My Voice” exhibit fit perfectly with the new mandate the museum is trying to adopt. After being restricted to exhibits only about the history of Ottawa from the construction of the canal to the First World War, Steinhauer wants to expand the historical time period as much as possible.
“I couldn’t think of a better project than ‘My Neighbourhood, My Voice,’ because it depicts present day Ottawa, and is not just through our eyes or the university’s eyes, but through the residents that live in the neighbourhood,” says Steinhauer. “This type of project is a great example of what museums such as the Bytown Museum should be hosting.”