That's me, posing with my Grandparents on my Grandpa's 91st birthday in January 1987 and my Grandma's 85th birthday in July 1986
Project Description
The inspiration that started not going anywhere any way was found in a journal written by my Grandmother in 1986. The book is a day timer featuring a week to a page, leaving just enough space for my Grandma to jot down a sentence or two about each day. From this source, I created a simple 8 ½ x 11 white poster for each journal entry. The posters consisted of the date and a large typewritten transcription of the entry, which was accompanied by a photocopy of the original entry in my Grandma’s handwriting.
A close-up view of one of the posters
This particular journal entry inspired the project name
Starting on April 1, 2005, I visited their old neighbourhood in Markham once a week armed with posters describing seven days of my Grandma’s life. For example, on Friday April 1, I posted seven copies of the seven posters for the next week (Tuesday April 1 – Monday April 7, 1986.) Each week, I took down any posters that were still up from the week before and started the whole process all over again. A surprising number of the posters survived relatively intact.
One of the most fascinating aspects of not going anywhere any way was watching interest in the project grow as time went on. For the first six weeks of this project, the posters consisted of the diary entry alone, with no explanation. During this time, my hope was that the people of the community would take the time to read the posters, become interested in the project and start to wonder what it was all about. Then, beginning May 13, a section was added on the bottom of each poster with tear-off slips of paper featuring my web site address. The posters were in this format until the end of not going anywhere any way on July 1, 2005.
On top of sticking posters to poles with packing tape, each week I snapped photographs of the posters and the community to document the project. As well, I recounted most of the interactions I had with the public while I was postering in Markham in a project journal. You will find these tales in the ‘Stories from the Post’ segments found in this website. If you find yourself immortalized in one of the stories, please keep in mind that I wrote them from memory and, as we all know, memory is a subjective and sometimes elusive force.
Coming full circle, you now have the chance to apply your viewpoint, subjectivity and elusive memory to not going anywhere any way. The online segment of this project features a ‘Poster Board’ – a forum for anyone to express their two cents about the project. I welcome (and highly encourage!) feedback in any form, be it positive or negative, full of laughter, anger or tears.