A community is made up of individuals, each person with their own background, upbringing, culture and beliefs.
To showcase those differences in our own community, Community Outreach Services has spent the past two years collecting images of Jasperites from all walks of life celebrating their uniqueness.
It's called the Diversity Project and all told nearly 300 community members have taken part, each posing in front of a camera holding a piece of paper that explains, in their own words and handwriting, what makes them unique.
“We often saw people spending 10 or 15 minutes with the paper and pen, their hand hovering unsure what to say,” recalled Kathleen Waxer, director of Community and Family Services. “While some people went up to the paper and wrote something immediately. It was an interesting thing to watch.
“There were times where I was extremely moved by the candour and the honesty that someone was willing to put on a piece of a paper and stand in front of the camera with.”
There was a wide range of responses, from “My nerdiness makes me awesome” to “I'm proud to be native!”
The project will be on display at the Jasper-Yellowhead Museum and Archives for the month of February.
Waxer said all of the photos will be on the walls in a variety of formats by the end of the week and there will be a formal opening Feb. 12.
“I think the target audience is the whole community,” she said, being careful not to give too much away about how 300 photos will fit on the walls. “Our hope is if people see these photographs and see that people are proud and comfortable with who they are and see that there's a rich diversity of people living in our community, we can help to frame diversity as a positive thing, so people don't want to hide the things that are different or unique about them.”
By framing diversity as an asset—and an undeniable fact of life—Waxer said her hope is that the project will take away the stigma of being different and show people that our differences are our strengths.
“My dream is that everyone feels welcome and included in community life in Jasper, and I think communities that promote inclusion will have a greater sense of cohesiveness and belonging.”
The opening will take place Feb. 12 at 6 p.m. If you can't make it that evening, the show will be up until the end of February and the museum is open Thursday through Sunday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
