Why are so many people experiencing homelessness in Kelowna? What do people on the street want us to see and understand? Kelowna Museums partnered with Metro Community to create SEE:kelowna, an installation through which people can express their personal experience of homelessness.
Metro offered street community friends disposable cameras, creative input, and a place to record their stories. The result is an artistic interpretation where the viewer gains personal insights into the realities of people experiencing homelessness through a museum display and website. SEE:kelowna stories and photographs may not be what comes to mind when we think of the “Okanagan lifestyle” – yet they represent an equally real part of our city. Rob says, “If I have money, I’ll give you some. I’ll share my food, everything I have. I think that’s kindness, and I think that that sort of paying forward kindness is reciprocated. It has to be.”
Opening Reception
The public is invited to an opening celebration at the Okanagan Heritage Museum (470 Queensway Ave) on Tuesday, August 29, from 3-4:30pm. The event will open with remarks from the organizers and some of the project artists, followed by an opportunity to view the installation. The project was made possible with funding from the City of Kelowna Sesquicentennial grant program.
Metro Community is a group of individuals from all levels of society learning to do life together. Metro believes in the power of relationship and listening to one another, because every person is worthy of being known. Kelowna’s most vulnerable and marginalized, including those experiencing homelessness, are at the heart of Metro Community.
The Kelowna Museums Society provides the public with educational exhibitions and programs that foster personal participation, stimulate curiosity, and engage the senses with the cultures, histories, and possibilities of the Okanagan region. The Kelowna Museums Society operates the Okanagan Heritage Museum, Okanagan Military Museum, Okanagan Wine & Orchard Museum, and Kelowna Public Archives.
