​In this conference, newcomer youth will share their reflections of their co-researched journeys with University of Calgary researchers. They will also share their creations which make visible hope, loss, pain and solidarity—emotions that underlie forced migration but are silenced in the procedures of migration.

​Agenda for Day 1: Sharing reflections with community partner service providing organization staff aand broader community of Calgary youth.

Agenda for Day 2: ​Sharing reflections with invited guests and mini installation.

Participation in the conference is by invitation only.

As The Garden Goes to Sleep is an exhibition of artworks co-designed by the youth and researchers of YARI-Collective and M3Lab, based out of University of Calgary.

Over the past few months, our Collective has worked towards rearing up a garden, evoking embodied memories of the youths of gardening in the soil of their homelands and planting these memories as seeds for the re-imagination of those gardens left behind. The garden cultivated a living representation of the newcomer youths’ stories of migration, creating a place where nostalgia, healing, and community thrived.

Concept Note:

As the seasons change and the garden begins to fade, there is sadness for the comforting and joyful space the garden held for us over the summer. But there is also much hope and anticipation for the arrival of the next growing season. As The Garden Goes to Sleep is a collection of artwork co-designed by the youth and research team of the YARI-Collective that reflects the temporal convergence of the garden, bringing memories to life in the fleeting summer of this land and carrying seeds of hope for future gardens. Each piece is an invitation to reflect on everything a garden can come to mean, and how we keep these gardens alive even through the long months of winter.

Location:

For this exhibition, we have partnered with The Alcove Centre for the Arts (alcoveartscentre.ca), a non-profit organization in Calgary which aims to increase accessibility to the arts and offers a creative collaborative space.

The exhibition is on the window-display and open for viewing around all hours of the day, between 24th September (Sunday) and 8th October (Sunday). No registration is required for the viewing.

Alcove Centre for the Arts premises is open to public as per the following schedule:

Wednesday – Friday: 5 pm – 9 pm

Saturday & Sunday: 12:30pm – 8pm

Monday & Tuesday: CLOSED

More details about the hours and schedule is available here: https://alcoveartscentre.ca/upcomingprograms/