Kids' Workshop: Maps As Memories: A Community Mapping Project
November 26, 2022
10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Halifax Central Library, Spring Garden Road, Halifax, NS, Canada
In Person Only ; All ages welcome
This all ages arts-based workshops encourages participants to create an artwork around the
concepts of maps, memories and community. Participants will explore materials and techniques
such as collage, textiles, and drawing to create either their own individual map of their
community or a collaborative map of Kjipuktuk/Halifax. This workshop uses art-making to incite
reflection and discussion around the role of maps, memory making, and community
representation.
Facilitator
Renée Brazeau (she/they) is an artist and educator living and working in Kjipuktuk/Halifax. Their art
practice currently focuses on embroidery, acrylic painting and illustration. They have facilitated
arts-based workshops through Wonder'neath Art Society, NSCAD Extended Studies, and the
Centre for Craft Nova Scotia. Renée is also working towards completing her Masters of Arts in
Art Education at NSCAD University. They hold a Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours) and a Bachelor
of Education from Queen’s University in Kingston, Ontario.
I am fascinated by the potential in community mapping as a tool of resistance and story-telling.
Maps are objects that impose a colonial truth and that have been used to delineate groups. They
are often devoid of feeling, emotion, memory, and daily realities. How can we reclaim the map as
a tool for documenting emotion, telling stories, and resisting systems of power?
I draw inspiration from mapping projects such as the Lucas LaRochelle’s online collaborative
map Queering the Map, The Laundromat Project’s webinar series Radical Mapping: Making
Meaning in Our Communities (2021), and Lize Mogel’s counter-mapping Community Art
Residency at the Whitney Museum of American Art (2015).
Photo provided by Renée Brazeau, Sejour On The South Shore (2022)