Map teaches W̱SÁNEĆ place names
February 26, 2024
Submitted by Kim Shortreed.
As part of Kim Shortreed’s PhD project “Contracolonial Practices in Salish Sean Namescapes,” he collaboratively built the Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map which is on display at UVic's McPherson Library until July 8, 2024.
The map
The Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map is a prototype of a 'haptic map,' an interactive art installation intended to teach Indigenous and non-Indigenous place names or toponyms. The map features lands in W̱SÁNEĆ Territory also known as the Saanich Peninsula.
'Haptic’ refers to a sense of touch, but also position and motion. Haptic maps don’t include typical Western cartographic marks like roads, signs, and borders but still represent place and landscape. A haptic map is intended to invite you to engage physically and creatively with its artistic topography and to learn place names in unconventional ways.
A key feature of any haptic map is that interacting with it will allow you to hear place names aloud, in this case of this map when the islands are moved you’ll hear their names aloud in both SENĆOŦEN and English.
The Untitled ṮEṮÁĆES map has two, broad aspirations:
- to encourage us to think about how we experience connections to place through landscape and place names;
- to provide new ways to learn orally about Indigenous and settler namescapes through curiosity and play.
Kim hopes, through art and mapping, to encourage place name equity in the Salish Sea and contribute to broader conversations about reconciliation and social justice.
The collaboration
TEMOSEṈ Chazz Elliott and Kim Shortreed co-developed the concept. TEMOSEṈ designed and carved the outside panels with help from Matthew Parlby-Elliott. Kim Shortreed built the map's structure (with help from TEMOSEṈ, Matthew, and Ben Olsen) and the interactive islands. Jesse Campbell painted the interior seascape horizon.