My Neighbourhood, My Voice

This afternoon at City Hall, there was an exhibition called My Neighbourhood, My Voice:

This was a collaborative project of Ottawa's various Community Health and Resource Centres. Here's a map of the catchment area of Ottawa's various centres:

They got over a hundred of their users, aged three to 82, to submit photos of their neighbourhood. Here are a couple Centretown submissions:

On the left, Patricia Plowman's Too Close to Home, depicting the view north-east from 570 Laurier, is accompanied by the following description:

The number and closeness of the over abundance of highrise condos in the downtown core is stifling, with a severe lack of parks and green spaces where communities can gather.

On the right, Pat Hutchison's My Church is simply labeled "Spiritual Home".

The sprightly older genetleman on the right in this photo was featured in a pair of photographs holding a bottle of school glue to "fix" a rataining wall damaged by tree roots.It was a fun event, and a great way to learn about concerns people have in other neighbourhoods--particularly people who tend not to participate in such discussions, such as younger and lower-income populations. Common themes were pride in one's neighbourhood, pleasant experiences with buses, and complaints about garbage, lack of greenspace, pedestrian and wheelchair access, and spaces to play.

For more information, visit www.photovoiceottawa.org