A Postcard To Regent

By Jabin Hague
Jabin is a community journalist with FOCUS MEDIA ARTS CENTRE

Throughout the years the Regent Park community has grown and developed into a diverse and multicultural neighbourhood, creating a vast treasure trove of  memories and experiences. Reflecting on these moments, the project “A Postcard To Regent” was curated by youth in the community and the staff of Focus Media Arts with the goal of sharing these memories and experiences through the medium of photography. A Postcard to Regent was a way to build connections with people around the neighbourhood using postcards to look at both in the old and new Regent Park.

The project was exhibited in the Daniels Spectrum building during the Doors Open festival. The photographs represent a repository of the massive changes that are taking place in the Regent Park community, the coverage of this transition has immense historical significance for the community.

The project was meant to showcase the different sides of Regent Park. Curator Blake Norton, instructor Dimitrije Martinovic, and photographers who live in Regent Park, Victoria Nannetti, Fatima Hashim, and Fatima Shajahan, all collaborated to make this project. As a team, they’ve observed and walked around meaningful places they found in the community capturing photographs with their cell phones, The photographs as postcards give a chance to share these thoughts and experiences for the residents that have an emotional relation within the community.

“One more critical aspect of the workshop was to engage participants with the story of Regent Park, its past, present and future.” Said by instructor Dimitrije Martinovic.

The places that have been photographed show new high rise buildings contrasting the old Regent Park buildings. “I loved walking through the community using my photography skills to capture pictures of places I’ll always remember and mean great importance to me.” - Victoria Nannetti.

The exhibition A Postcard to Regent, also had an interactive component. Visitors to the exhibition were encouraged to choose a postcard for themselves and write a few words on the back and place it in mail box located within the installation.

In the end, “A Postcard to Regent” is a way of  expressing the light and hopefulness the community gives. Connecting as one as the neighbourhood has the chance to share and  bond over the intriguing  visual aspects of Regent Park.