Jubilee Lower Lobby

“Connecting Resilience”

Connecting Resilence

This body of work features a variety of pieces by newcomer families in Canada. All content explores these families' multicultural identities and their (re)definition of "home."

Our surroundings are reflective of who we are. They have the potential to be projections of our dreams and fond reminders of our ancestors. The spaces in which we live, work, gather, and love can propel us toward growth and evolution, as well as enable us to reflect on our histories.

The body of work in this exhibition addresses newcomers' relationships with new and old spaces and tells stories of resilience, perseverance, and hope. These families recall dear memories, open up about their current worries, and express their dreams for the future through multiple mediums and activities which ultimately represent the vast landscape of current newcomers' experiences in Canada.

 

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Funded by Canada's Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), this exhibition is brought to life in partnership with the Werklund School of Education at the University of Calgary, and Calgary’s Centre for Newcomers.

Despite research advocating for more inclusive, equitable, and diverse support for their communities, newcomer families often struggle to thrive in their adopted lands. While Canada promises war-free spaces and quality of life for newcomer families, realities that arise during the settlement process undoubtedly can shape their trajectories. By focusing on place and its role in re-settlement and identity-formation, this exhibition explores the ways in which the spaces we live, play, work, gather, and love can both propel and inhibit, as well as enable us to reflect on our ongoing histories. The families who have contributed to this exhibition animate the possibilities for intercultural awareness, belonging, and resilience that arise through engagement with the vast landscape of newcomer stories of place.

The exhibition, comprised of shared stories of Canadian newcomer families, explores their (re)conceptualizations of home. The pieces in this exhibition are the result of dialogues and relationship-building among newcomers, artists, researchers, and settlement workers over a month of workshop participation in March of 2023. Featuring maps, collages, portraits, photographs, digital art, tapestries, journal entries, and sound recordings, this exhibit highlights the ways in which home and place are central to newcomers’ stories of resilience and perseverance in the resettlement process. As these families recall dear memories, open up about current worries, celebrate successes, and express dreams for the future through multiple media, they powerfully share the vast landscape of newcomer experience in Canada. These identity texts also serve as a reminder that home-making processes and narratives permeate day-to-day life for all in Calgary.