Dear Carrie ( 2022) was the result of a creative mapping project which began with the intention of following the directive given to me in a class during my Master of Art in Art Education program at the Nova Scotia College of Art & Design. The class was led by Dr. Nicole Lee who studied a/r/tography with Dr. Rita Irwin at the University of British Columbia. The directive we were given was: “Go for walks, develop an inquiry project on how you conceptualize community.”
I decided right away that I would audio record my walks. I followed the walking directive for a month. But walking, as it turned out, was making me anxious. It highlighted what I was missing. I missed Vancouver’s back alleys. I missed the interstitial spaces they offered. Halifax is built differently.
At some point, I decided to leave the process of walking and recording. I realized that these actions were simply a way to begin the inquiry.
During this project, I wrote four letters to my friend Carrie, who walks and documents the streets and the alleys of Vancouver through Instagram. I published these letters/reflections on my Research Notes digital Substack newsletter (no longer active). The letters were visually accompanied by many of Carrie’s Instagram posts.