Ever wanted to revisit the nostalgia of landscapes you’ve visited? Perhaps the locale where your parents first met? What about where you met your other half? Or maybe fond memories of a family hike?
Now, these treasured memories can be forever preserved, electronically.
Heritage Crowd, an online repository, does just that. Reliant on submissions, the initiative seeks to enhance the cultural heritage of landmarks, buildings, and other locations. Those wishing to contribute may do so whether it be through text, Twitter, e-mail, or even voicemail, said Fiona Wright, education and outreach assistant for the Carleton University Art Gallery.
The project, developed by Carleton’s history department in July of this year, is led by history professor Shawn Graham. He is assisted by Carleton students, Guy Massie and Nadine Feuerherm.
“It’s the sort of things that are important to them,” Graham said, describing the personal historical information people share through their show.
Graham said the collaboration with the gallery is an opportunity to reach even more people to contribute to the “living, breathing and ever expanding” map.
It’s described as an “interactive map of the Ottawa Valley region,” according to Wright. The data is collected by a new form of research classified as “crowd sourcing.” With this method, data is gathered using various facets of social media.
Held in conjunction with established painter Leslie Reid’s exhibition, “A Darkening Vision” at the gallery, its aim is to stimulate thought and interest in landscapes as an art form, Wright said.
“People are very passive about landscape, thinking it doesn’t hold any meaning. The Carleton community gets a glimpse of how much thought and strength goes into her work,” Wright said.
“We’re trying to bring the gallery into the Carleton community with more events and collaborations. [Reid] is painting the region that Heritage Crowd is interested in.”
The aim of the amalgamation is to compel viewers to begin thinking about landscape in a new, interactive way, which entails memory, and nostalgia, said Wright, adding that it also makes Reid’s paintings so powerful.
