‘Very special’ Calgary project shares newcomers’ stories

Recent immigrants to Calgary are getting a new opportunity to share their stories.

It’s part of a project aimed at promoting kindness and understanding.

Local musician Jiajia Li has created an exhibit called ‘Immigrant Story Project: Experiment No. 1’.

Housed in a hallway at Arts Commons, the exhibit provides a soundscape of various audio pieces playing from speakers in the ceiling.

The audio includes field recordings made by Li, featuring things like singing, traffic noise and restaurant sounds.

The soundscape also includes recent immigrants talking about the challenges they face adapting to their new lives in Calgary.

“I was born and raised in Beijing, China and as an immigrant, I experienced a lot of hardship, being isolated, with family far away,” Li said. “so I wanted to take an opportunity to connect with other immigrants and find out what their stories are.”

The exhibit includes comments from people who’ve come to Canada from places like Cuba and Iran.

Danny Luong’s voice is featured in the soundscape.

“My family came here as refugees from Vietnam, and that’s a challenging question for a lot of people – find somewhere that they belong,” Luong said. “Sharing that experience is probably the best way to show others that there are multiple definitions of what a home can be.”

The soundscape exhibit continue until May 5 at Arts Commons.

“You can hear something that is often very, very private and I think that’s very special, “Arts Commons associate director Joshua Dalledonne said. “so having a chance to hear stories about what it means to come to new places is something that I think all of us can relate to.”

Li says this a good time to be sharing the immigrants’ stories.

“Right now the world is very polarized,” Li said. “so we can provide opportunities for people to understand each other and then to offer some kindness.”