Stories from Old Sandwich Town
Interested in the ongoing evolution of communities, my art practice has for years been focused on an area of Windsor Ontario known as Old Sandwich Town. This particular project, Stories from Old Sandwich Town: A Bridge to Somewhere (2016) is the culmination of a partnership with an inclusive group of area residents and stakeholders. The resulting work was based on their perspectives about the International Ambassador Bridge’s impact on interconnected facets of community life in their neighbourhood.
The community sits on the territorial land of the Anishinaabe people under the governance of the Three Fires Confederacy. As of 2016, there was still unceded land in the area. The oldest francophone community west of Montreal, Sandwich Town is now a culturally diverse neighbourhood and includes many students and New Canadians.
The town has faced numerous challenges over the years, the most recent one being the Ambassador Bridge’s plans to construct a second span across the Detroit River. It links the northern shore of the Detroit River in the USA to the southern shore in Canada, specifically, Old Sandwich Town in Windsor, Ontario. It is the busiest international crossing in North America and as per the Canadian Border Services Agency, one of the two privately-owned bridges along the Northern Shore.
The discussions were documented and visually interpreted in an interdisciplinary body of work. Mixed media portraits of participants accompany excerpts from the discussions as do mixed media intaglio maps illustrating the location of our meetings in the community. A photo installation with images of the area illustrated the negative impact of the Bridge on the area as well as the area’s positive attributes. A booklet that includes the conversations with participants and the resulting artwork were available to viewers during the course of the exhibition.
My aim was to promote awareness about the Bridge’s long standing impact on the community, referred to as ‘block-busting’ by many community advocates. The issue has been the subject of numerous debates in the courts over the past several years.
Intersecting past and present, photography, 40″x24″, 2007.
Old Sandwich Town, video installation, 2016. Rosemarie Denunzio, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016.
Old Sandwich Town, installation view, 2016. Nancy Allen, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016. Old Sandwich Town, installation view, 2016. Maryann Cuderman, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016. Terry Kennedy, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016. Dean Jacobs, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016.
Stories from Old Sandwich Town, installation view, 2016. Lana Talbot, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016. Lana Talbot, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016.
Library II Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016. Evelyn Maclean, mixed media, 20″x20″, 2016. Library Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016.
Sandwich Baptist Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016. Stories from Old Sandwich Town, installation view, 2016. Mackenzie Hall Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016.
Rock Bottom Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016. Stories from Old Sandwich Town, installation view, 2016. Bakeshop Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016.
Interactive resource area, 2016. Stories from Old Sandwich Town, research and project booklet, 2016. Rosemarie Meeting, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016.
Interactive resource area, 2016. Conversation WIFN, Intaglio, 9″x12″, 2016. Interactive resource area, 2016.
The eight people with whom I met to discuss and chronicle their stories are as follows:
Nancy Allen: Founding member and Director of Northstar Cultural Centre; Curriculum Development Consultant, Windsor Essex County District School Board
Mary Ann Cudderman: Old Sandwich Town BIA chairperson and long-standing member; Proprietor of Old Sandwich Town Bakery
Rosemary Denunzio: Retired archaeologist; University of Windsor Archaeology Professor; Windsor Community Museum committee member
David Garlic: Former (and last) Principal of Sandwich Town’s Forster Secondary School; Founding and current member of les Amis Duff-Bâby and Essex County Historical Society member
Dean Jacobs: Consultation Manager with Walpole Island First Nation Council; Former WIFN Chief; Former Director and Research Director WIFN Heritage Centre
Terry Kennedy: Founding member Sandwich Town Library; member of truck watch coalition; former member of DRIC and Herb Gray consultation group
Evelyn McLean: Founder of Friends of the Court, and Les amis Duff-Bâby; retired City of Windsor Heritage Planner and former University of Windsor Dean of Women
Lana Talbot: Descendant of formerly enslaved people; Sandwich Baptist Church Secretary; Heritage Committee chairperson; visual artist and musician
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Photo credit: Sasha Opeiko