Wendy’s Projects

Wendy Allen truly believes that everyone has interesting stories to tell about their lives. Her past and current work, from interviewing foreign exchange students at Concordia University to an ongoing series of conversations and engagements with Nakuset, the Executive Director of the Native Women’s Centre of Montreal, are all means to experiment with the capacity for digital media to tell stories in expressive and experimental ways. Wendy’s work is also deeply personal, as a way to liberate her voice after retiring from a career writing bureaucratic reports. Wendy’s videos and audio pieces are ways to communicate stories that matter, while also discovering parts of who she is. As she tellingly puts it: “Most things that matter have both information and emotion.” The Digital Literacy program, for her, is an opportunity to learn how to tell stories that do both, and more.

Ghost Signs in Mile End

During the last year, friends have been pointing out “ghost signs” that I hadn’t noticed even though I’d walked by them many times. Now I always stop and look and try to decipher the fading words. What does it say above Nugget Shoe Polish? Is it “comment cirer des chaussures”? And what could the word be before “life of your shoes”? These signs give us clues about the past in Mile End and the people who lived and worked here. They remind us that Mile End is full of living history.

Inside Looking Out