I Belong Here FAQ

What?

I Belong Here is one part oral history, one part art project, and one part community engagement. It launched on October 20th as community ‘listening stations’ at various locations in downtown Cobourg with brightly coloured posters featuring a nine-patch quilt design. A QR code on each quilt block connects, via smartphone, to a 2-minute audio clip from one of the oral history recordings. This oral history project allowed 9 narrators/ interviewees to document parts of their life story, then share them with a wider public.

Who?

My collaborators on the project are 9 people that I’ve known for several years, and consider friends. Most grew up in this community and don’t know any other place as home. Each of them has been negatively labeled, at some point, according to their struggle with homelessness or addiction or mental health. Our one-to-one interviews focused on the life they’ve lived that isn’t captured in a label like that.

When?

The interviews for I Belong Here were recorded over the months since December, 2024. Often there were delays and rescheduling of plans, simply because some of the narrators were (and are) living with a lot of instability and disruption.

Where?

This project is limited to specific individuals in an identified geographic location, the Town of Cobourg. While there’s a universal aspect to the issues and experiences that are touched on, I didn’t want to lose the individual human ties to this place. Things happen at a particular time, in a particular place, to particular people.

Why?

It’s my hope that meeting the people who are struggling the most in our community, and having a real, human encounter, will be transformative. I Belong Here evolved as a creative project to allow those voices to be heard in neighbourhood public spaces. Please listen and talk with your friends about how we can make sure that everyone belongs here.