Excavation: Unearthing the Story and History of a Space

Artist-Initiated Microgrant 2021

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states

The group examined artifacts found in the De Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public and held land-based photography workshops, which began with and were guided by Indigenous Knowledge Keepers.

A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states
A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states
A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states
A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states
A collection of photos showing the De Waal building in historic states
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Title:

Excavation: Unearthing the Story and History of a Space

Project Completion:

2022

Medium:

Various

Location:

Sparrow Artist Space: de Waal Block, 36 4th St. NE

Artist(s):

Colleen Rauscher, Jenny Tzanakos, Ramsey Kunkel, Lucy Altrows

About the Artist:

Ramsey Kunkel is a local Métis artist and freelance photographer based in Calgary, Alberta. He specializes in portrait photography and has taken photos for local, national and international clients.

Colleen Rauscher is a Calgary-based collage/mixed media artist and photographer who recently rediscovered film photography and the allure of the darkroom after a 30-year hiatus, when she first discovered photography at ACAD (now Alberta University of the Arts), before digital existed.

Jenny Tzanakos is a local media designer, storyteller and artist. Jenny zigzags between photography, small-scale sculpture, video, audio and animation — and then attempts to put them all together.

Lucy Altrows is a self-taught artist who has been taking photos since she was a kid. Patterns and reflections guide much of her work and you will often find her looking up at mirrored buildings while walking through downtown Calgary.

The Project

The de Waal building is more than 100 years old and has been home to a grocery store, bookshop, furniture store and even a music studio throughout its history

Colleen Rauscher, Jenny Tzanakos, Ramsey Kunkel and Lucy Altrows aimed to create a community art project in which they would explore, together with the public, the idea of collective history. The group examined artifacts found in the de Waal building, collected written and recorded stories from the public, and held free land-based photography workshops in which participants learned analog, digital and alternative photography techniques. These workshops began, and were guided by, Indigenous Knowledge Keepers who shared Indigenous stories and connections to the site, Indigenous Ways of Knowing, and conversations on reconciliation and decolonization. The workshops facilitated an open space for the sharing of personal histories and the building of relationships.

Additionally, the group worked with local historians and historical societies during the project, to contextualize the connections between found objects, stories and people within the community.

Using various tools and photographic processes, such as disposable cameras or cyanotypes, members of the public created new artifacts in their own voice to be added to the history of this site. Throughout the duration of this project, the artists also produced installations, sculptural works and photographs. The resulting artworks and artifacts were exhibited at the Sparrow Artist Space.

In the Media

CBC | February 21, 2022

Join Calgary artists in an archeological dig of lost and forgotten items

The 2021 Artist-Initiated Microgrant

This project was funded as part of the 2021 Artist-Initiated Microgrant. Calgary Arts Development invited Calgary and area artists, or artist teams, to submit ideas to create art in public spaces. This program provided one-time funding of $150,000 overall to support the local artist community through the impacts of COVID, to a maximum of $40,000 for each project. This microgrant program recognized that public art opportunities can come from grassroots ideas that are initiated by professional artists.

Learn more here.

More Information

Our Commitment to Equity

Our commitment to Indigenous reconciliation, racial equity, disability justice, and gender and sexual diversity.

We acknowledge that the land we gather on, Mohkinsstsis, is the ancestral territory of the Siksikaitsitapi — the Blackfoot people — comprising the Siksika, Kainai and Piikani Nations, as well as Treaty 7 signatories, the Tsuut’ina Nation and the Îyârhe Nakoda Bearspaw, Chiniki and Goodstoney First Nations. Today this land is home to the Otipemisiwak Métis Government Districts 5 and 6 as well as many First Nations and Inuit from across Turtle Island.

We acknowledge that there has been art, music, dance, storytelling and ceremony on this land since time immemorial and it is in the spirit of this land and its people that we do our work.

Please see our full Commitment to Equity, including the sections on our aspirations, accountability, current initiatives and EDIA history.