This year at Henderson, I delved into personal identity and storytelling with my cohorts. Our focus was on exploring individual concepts of self and the narratives we present to the world, as well as those we tell ourselves. Using simple bookmaking techniques, we crafted covers that represented our communal identity, reflecting the stories we share with others, while the inner pages delved into the narratives we internalize about ourselves.

The project encouraged the artists to contemplate the deeper layers of their existence and how these inner truths intersect with the personas they project outwardly. We aimed to highlight the positive aspects of ourselves that we present to the world. Since this was a collaboration with young people, we tailored the concept to suit each grade level, ensuring it resonated with their understanding. Each cohort was prompted to reflect on their personal stories and their role within their

own narratives, as well as in the larger narrative of the world around them. We discussed how we present our best selves to the public, while our inner desires and vulnerabilities remain mostly private, except for moments of genuine connection and sharing.

This project was an invitation for Henderson students to combine stop-motion filmmaking with a collage methodology focused on questioning and curiosity – to see archives as part of a living present. Historical absences informed the use of text, sound, textiles and everyday found materials, giving life to the dissonance of lived stories impacted by systems of displacement.

Archival images from historic neighborhoods (Chinatown, Hogan's Alley, South Vancouver) provide an anchor for each film. Questions around urban space (public vs. private), planning, transportation, relations to land, labor, and non-human life surfaced as themes throughout the creative process, around which students drew strong, intuitive connections between development and displacement. Using sound as a sensory and narrative prompt, each class was asked to map and share what they imagine equitable public space to feel like– and to consider deeply, playfully, and critically: what makes a ‘home’, beyond the settler imaginary.