This week, we went on another tour. Sumeya, Fazra, Michelle, and I headed out with our cameras to document the neighbourhood again. Due to the sun and the warmer weather, we saw more residents walking, cycling, and utilizing the neighbourhood.
Fazra taking photos at the park, photographed by Shayla.
Earlier this week, Michelle and I met up on our own and narrowed down our project. We found that quotes and headlines from articles cannot be so linearly combatted with visuals. The different stigmas that continue to permeate peoples ideas of the neighbourhood are intertwined with one another. Because of this, we realized that our photography and videography will also be intertwined. I think we originally saw this project going like this: stereotypical/stigmatizing headline in the news, combatted with a photo displaying the opposite and showing the reality of Regent Park. We now know that this quote versus photo approach is not so simple. Last week, Sumeya said that she wanted to show all the good things about Regent Park, so in the narrowing down of our project we realized we can and should do exactly that. Instead of having one photo directly address one quote, we are making our photos and video work as a unified tool to combat the stigmatization. Michelle suggested that at the showcase we should not bind one quote or headline to one photo, but rather surround the quotes with our photos to visually show that our photographs collectively fight these negative connotations. We will use our different pieces of media as a whole.
Walking through the neighbourhood, photographed by Sumeya.
After digging through the news, we have seen that articles, reporters, and quotes from different City of Toronto staff members often frame the neighbourhood as crime filled, lacking a sense of community prior to revitalization, and becoming ‘fully integrated’ post phases 1-3 of the redevelopment. One article we looked at goes on to say that Regent Park has been converting from an “ill-fated enclave to flourishing downtown hub.” Through different stories shared by the Diva Girls and our class’s experiences in the neighbourhood so far, we know these stereotypes are not the truth. So this week when we went out to take photos, our driving question behind what and who to photograph was, what represents community in the neighbourhood across time? To visually represent the answers to this question, we photographed the old Regent Park buildings, the large number of cars parked outside these old buildings, the park, the outside of RP Focus, and we also took photos of each other.
In this week of content creation, we did not really face any challenges. We finished capturing both our photos and videos, and what remains is the audio capturing and all the editing. I have noticed that each week something new is learned. Whether it’s where Fazra and Sumeya go to school, or if it’s them showing us how different public and neighbourhood spaces are used, knowledge is being passed down in non-conventional ways each week that we work together.
Shayla, Michelle, Sumeya, and Fazra are The Legacy Leavers.