'I Belong Here' Project Launch

My new community-based art and oral history initiative, I Belong Here, invites Cobourg, ON residents and visitors to experience stories from the lives of neighbours who are--too often--defined by labels such as homeless, addicted, or mentally ill. This project started with a question: "How can we help others see the full humanity of people who have been marginalized?"

Through my years of living and working in Northumberland County, I've developed friendships with individuals who, despite facing immense challenges, carry rich and varied stories. Stories of adventure, love, loyalty, accomplishment, and wisdom gained through experience. Spending time listening to these stories firsthand changed how I see my community. I wanted others to have the same chance to hear these voices.

Over the first half of 2025, I collaborated with nine participants to record and shape their life stories using oral history practices. Each of the participant has, at one time or another, been reduced to a stigmatizing label. Together, we worked to tell fuller, more nuanced stories that highlight the breadth of each life lived.

The first stage of the project launches today with community “listening stations” throughout downtown Cobourg, ON, where brightly coloured posters designed as a nine-patch quilt motif are appearing in shop windows and public spaces. Each “quilt block” features a QR code that connects smartphone users to a short, two-minute audio clip drawn from one of the oral history recordings. The project will open online at a later date.

It's an invitation to listen with an open heart—to hear the voices and life journeys of our neighbours. My hope is that listeners will see themselves in these stories, recognize our shared humanity, and consider what it truly means to belong to one another in community.”