Ibtesam Alzenki, a native of?Kuwait, enjoys many things about Ottawa.
She loves the Rideau River, strolls along the canal, the way the leaves change colours in the fall and even the snow.
“In my country, it is very hot,” she said.
And two years after arriving in Ottawa from Brazil, she was able to share with her community exactly what she loved best about her Prince of Wales-area home — ducks in the Rideau River and fall leaves.
Alzenki was one of hundreds of photographers who took part in the My Neighbourhood, My Voice project over the last year. A collaboration between the University of Ottawa and 14 community health centres, the project, on display at city hall yesterday, allowed a diverse group of Ottawa residents to express what they love best and what they most feel needs to change in their neighbourhoods.
Looking at the photographs — taken by amateur photographers ranging in age from three to 82 — Dr. Elizabeth Kristjansson, an associate professor of psychology at uOttawa, called them remarkable.
With 150 photos on display, subjects ranged from schools to parks to children’s toys to cracked sidewalks. Kristjansson originally came up with the idea for the project, which launched a year ago, because she wanted to give people a chance to show their views of their neighbourhoods.
Although she said “every neighbourhood has something good,” she said she was struck by how residents found beauty “in ordinary things.
“People were able to capture beauty in green spaces and waterways,” she said. Other topics, like litter, graffiti and a homeless person “inspire people to make changes,” she said. “I hope the result is change.”
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Photos provide new views
tracey tong / metro ottawa
Ottawa resident Ibtesam Alzenki and her daughter Maryam, 3, show a photograph that Alzenki took of ducks in the Rideau River. The photo, one of about 150 in the My Neighbourhood, My Voice project at city hall yesterday, was inspired by Maryam’s love of ducks.
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