The Life Mapping Project

As a contribution to the first-ever Salt Spring Island Pride celebration in 2005, GLOSSI (Gays and Lesbians of Salt Spring Island)  undertook a research project mapping the lives of island gays and lesbians. Caffyn Kelley and Dr. Anne Zeller coordinated the project.

Collage Workshop

At a Saturday workshop, participants were invited to reflect on the phases of their lives, and to work with symbolic imagery and photographs to create collage “maps” sharing aspects of their lives. Others who could not attend the workshop created collages at home.

Life Mapping Survey

 Participants were also invited to gather 6-10 images to represent different phases of their lives, and then spend about two hours responding to a “Life Mapping Survey.” Thoughts and images gathered through these surveys were incorporated into the final collage.  

Exhibition 

The collages and survey responses were pieced together in a large artwork for exhibition at the First Ever Salt Spring Island Pride Event, Artspring, September 10, 2005. Documentation of the project has been donated to the Canadian Gay and Lesbian Archives and made available on the internet.

 Why this project?  

We intended this project as a fun, relaxed way to document our lives, play with images and symbols, and get to know one another better. The project also had a more serious purpose. There are so few places where gay and lesbian lives are made visible. The mass media continues to marginalize, pathologize and silence us. School curriculum is devoid of gay and lesbian content. We address demeaning homophobic stereotypes by sharing some of the complexities, achievements and difficulties of our lives.