EmpowerHER
Artist-researchers Marnie Badham and Emily Dundas Oke invite the local women of Kamloops/ T’Kemlups to share their perceptions and attachments to place through this cultural mapping and participatory art project. Supported by United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo and Thompson Rivers University, Kamloops, March 2018.
Introduction to EmpowerHER: a women’s map to the city
Artist-researchers Marnie Badham and Emily Dundas Oke invited the local women of Kamloops/ T’Kemlups to share their perceptions of and attachments to place through a participatory art and cultural mapping project in 2018. These maps identified many interests including spots of beauty and social connection or problematic areas of concern where a woman may have felt unsafe.
Part art project and part community research, EmpowerHER: a women’s map to the city included a series of personal and collective maps made by local women to make visible their feelings and emotions about the city in which they live. Engaging approximately 700 women, the participatory project aimed to recentre the voices, everyday knowledge, and authority of these women in relationship to place.
Visit the EmpowerHER website.
As a visiting artist-researcher, Marnie was hosted and supported through a community partnership between United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo and Thompson Rivers University. Additional collaboration and resources for the project were provided by the many women involved, the City of Kamloops (Social Planning), United Steelworkers Local 7619, Thompson Rivers University Student Union, Elizabeth Fry Society Housing, JUMP and My Place Day Shelters. The project was also supported by RMIT University where Badham was Vice Chancellor’s Post Doctorial Research Fellow.
