This week was a very productive week for the Social Fixers for a variety of reasons — we were able to solidify our project to get a complete sense of direction for our final piece, we were able to communicate with each other to clear up any misunderstandings between group members about our plans, and we also continued to make progress on our work with Samira.
This session, in particular, added another layer to the project through Samira’s drawings. We re-did one of the first activities we did as a class collectively in the first couple of weeks working with the Diva Girls that Samira was not present for. This activity was the one facilitated by Aditi, where we were to draw a map of how we got to where we were that day. This could be a an actual representation of our commute to where we were in that point in time, or it could be an artistic interpretation of how we got to where we were in that moment either mentally or emotionally. The task on Monday was to create drawings of the neighbourhood from Samira’s perspective, highlighting the places and buildings that are most memorable to her, either because she visits them constantly or because she enjoys them. We would have liked to advance more this session, but without realizing it, it was time to say goodbye. Samira made a great deal of progress during class time, however she took the map home in order to work on it more thoroughly throughout the week.
One of Samira’s highlights in Regent Park is this location. Her friend, who she was often able to visit, lived in this building before relocation. Post-relocation, she and her friend are not able to see each other as often.
This week, specifically, we have noticed that time goes too fast with each session while the deadline approaches. While Samira was drawing, the rest of the group members continued to work on research on social mixing and displacement, transcription of previous interviews with Samira, and we also continued with new questions about her experience in Regent Park. As our deadline fast-approaches, we see the need to be more hands-on with the way we approach our work sessions, as well as our time outside of class to ensure that we are making enough progress with our outside research and work during the week.
As previously mentioned, a specific reason why this session was successful and productive was that we clarified certain doubts among the group members, not including Samira. On occasion, due to a lack of communication or clarity, we have found that we have each interpreted our task division and our understanding of our final project differently. Having the chance to properly communicate with each other, we established in more detail the format in which our timeline is going to be structured, and what we must have ready for next week as a draft for Aditi. Additionally, we indicated a certain level of flexibility and possible changes that can occur to the project in these next couple of weeks if we find ourselves with lack of time. For example, originally, we were going to make an interactive online timeline and also a physical display.
Depending on our progress, we may decide to focus exclusively on the physical for the final presentation. If time permits, we will create a simplified version of our physical timeline that can be accessed on mobile devices for guests to see at our final showcase.
Another piece of progress we made this week on our final project was to complete taking photos with our disposable camera that show the spaces and places that have significant meaning to Samira in Regent Park. After completing the photography part, we got the photos developed and have included them here for readers to view our progress and see some of Samira’s highlights.
A particular image of interest for Samira, which shows a stark difference between old and new, just within one block in Regent Park.
While we keep trying to discover certain stories about Samira and understand more about her lived experiences in Regent Park, it becomes clearer that the old Regent Park is an elusive memory, as all of her life has been surrounded by demolitions and reconstructions, making it difficult to recognize stability. Up to this point, it is not clear what the effects have been on Samira, since life in constant change is her normality.
The Old Regent Park
The New Regent Park
The Social Fixers are Lena, Sayem, Erika, and Samira.