SITE DATA COLLECTION
HALIFAX NORTH END
I took a couple of trips out to take photos of corner stores in the north end. Unfortunately the first day I spent taking photos was a wash. The sky was so grey (classic nova scotia winter) that it was making the buildings look really run down and sad - doing the opposite of what my intention with these photos.
So I waited another week and planned for when there was a chance of blue skies. These attempts were infinitely better and brighter.
PROOF OF CONCEPT
First building sketch was just the outline to see if they could work as drawings where the audience could colour in and complete the designs themself and then cut out and assemble.
FEEDBACK
Initial feedback peer review sessions and friends was that they liked the cut-out houses idea, but realistically, they wouldn’t have the supplies or time to colour in or paint the stores. They also weren’t sure of what each store should look like if they were to replicate them.
This meant that each cut-out and assembled store should exist solely on its own for those who aren’t artistically inclined, but want to appreciate the stores as they are.
To apply this feedback means the project now grows in scope, but is the right choice to make, even if that means the drawings may take 3-4 times longer than just the outlines.
My new path forward is to have the illustrations live as an art print on one side, ready to hang on the wall, but with cut-out and assembly lines on the back to fulfill the interactive element needed for this project.
CORNER STORE PROJECT
COQUITLAM HERITAGE SOCIETY
I looked for other artists, writers and projects also responding to the value of corner stores, and recognizing the threat they are under as we see them vanishing from communities without being replaced. I found a project that also included a heritage lens, all the way on the other side of the country, in BC. In 2023, Coquitlam Heritage Society exhibited their own project on community corners stores which included photographs and video storytelling to document and preserve not only the visual space of these buildings, but also the stories from inside their walls and of the people running them.
I organized an interview with their exhibitions manager to dig further into the project.
A short film that accompanies a project around NYC Bodegas: