By Jennifer Novotny, Diverse Heritage Strategy & Development Officer
This summer the Diverse Heritage Project co-hosted two community mapping events with Glasgow Disability Alliance’s BAME (Black, Asian, and Minority Ethnic) network. One session focused on sharing traditions, architecture, history and stories that reflected the group’s cultural connections to places around the globe. Countries represented on the map were Pakistan, India, Malawi, Guinea, Kurdistan, England, and Scotland.
One participant used materials to depict the traditional architecture of Guinea, incorporating the colours of the national flag.
As part of the second session, the group explored historic maps and images of Glasgow while listening to various soundscapes and audio effects like sounds of an industrial shipyard, a 1930s-era electric tram, and a steam train. We also experimented with scented aroma boxes from a company that provides olfactory effects to museums. We sniffed a Victorian street, an old inn, a sailing ship, and an industrial city.
The map and artwork created during these sessions is going to be installed at Glasgow Disability Alliance’s office in the Templeton Business Centre on 12 October, where it will be on permanent display.