Homes First Society/Leah Houston

We Are Here: The Monument Project

Leah Houston, Maggie Hutcheson, Residents of Savard's, Residents of Strachan House

Multimedia Installation

"We Are Here" is a multimedia community arts installation between a visual artist, a video artist and residents of two Homes First Society alternative housing sites that explores the notion of disappearance, in the context of neighbourhood gentrification. When a neighbourhood feels bad, feels dangerous, and has an active, visible street life, it is hard to see the ways in which the most marginalized among us are put further at risk in the drive to make it better. Disappearance can occur through a lack of voice or control over one’s daily life or the decisions of the community. The process of gentrification itself can be viewed as an active ‘disappearing’ of elements and people of a neighbourhood deemed undesirable.

Suitable for all ages