lucía terra
visual artist | writer
engaging the world through art
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YOUR AUTHOR, YOUR NEIGHBOR
why?
In 2013, a city-wide study revealed that people living in Vancouver—a city consistently ranking among the best in the world— felt isolated, disconnected. This project aimed to bring people together.
what?
With the choice of local authors and various topics and generes, I wanted to cross the boundaries that artificially separate us, reflect the diversity in the city, and get participants involved with other groups and realities as a way to push them beyond their comfort zone.
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Books were available for free and meetings were held at people’s houses. The topics discussed touched on the suffering that any type of violence generates, helping us reflect and consider other, more gentler and compassionate options of being in the world.
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who?
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The first guest, Renée Sarojini Saklikar, is part of the local Indian community. In her poetry book, Children of Air India, she explored instances of an event that deeply affected her community: the attack to an Air India flight, where many people from the community died.
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Our second guest, George K. Ilsley, is originally from Nova Scotia. His book Manbug, about the life of a peculiar gay couple, brought to the discussion issues of disability and normalcy, stereotypes, the use of labels and dichotomies, and the reality of a spectrum of gender, normalcy and ability, where we all fit.
Daniel Kalla, a Jewish doctor, wrote about a little-know part of history: the Jewish community that settled as refugees in China at the end of WWII. His book Nightfall Over Shanghai is a historic novel based on real events and memoirs from that community.
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Our fourth guest, Alyson Quinn, was born and grew up in Zimbabwe. Her novel When the River Wakes Up is based on her experience of growing up as a white African at a time when the country was undergoing tremendous changes. As a social worker, Quinn brought into the discussion the differences of cultures that “live in their heads” and those who “live in their hearts.”
Finally, biologist and author Ann Eriksson, lives in Thetis Island. Taking her book High Clear Bell of Morning as our departure point, we discussed issues of mental health and the destruction of our environment, with a focus on the contamination of the ocean and its effect on marine mammals in our region.
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We thank the Vancouver Foundation through its Small Neighbourhood Grants for funding the project and our community partners and co-organizers: the Kits Book Club and Nuria Chapinal.
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*The project has continued with some of the people who originally participated and has had more than ten iterations.