By: Luana Magno
Open your door, mind and heart.
Nice to Meet You: Stories of Migration, presented by the Tri-Cities Local Immigration Partnership, is on display now at the City Centre branch. Luana Magno, the artist behind the display, is a photographer from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. She is a newcomer who currently explores her art in the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh nations.
Read on for a description of the exhibit in Luana’s own words.
“In a healing journey to find my own voice, I bumped into many beautiful faces, powerful voices, such inspiring stories.
Faces looking for eyes to be seen. Voices running after ears to be heard.
How could I not have noticed I had such inspiring people as neighbours? How do we meet these people? Do we need a formal introduction?
So, the idea to bring these empowering voices together and make a proper introduction came up. Especially because in times of uncertainty, it’s imperative to find new ways of doing things, of seeing and understanding the world around us. How could we understand the world if we don’t know our neighbours? What if we already had, within our community, most of the resources and possibilities we are looking for?
The Nice to Meet You Project is an initiative in artform that arose from the longing for connection. It is a safe space where the incredibly diverse and beautiful people, who chose Canada as their homes, share their inspiring stories.
It is your doorbell announcing your neighbours are outside and they are excited to share a bit of their life journey with you.
Please, open your door, mind and heart.”
The exhibit will be at the
City Centre branch until January 2022. Each person has also shared their story in an interview series, which can be seen on
Youtube.