Rajpreet (she/her) is currently based in Tkaronto and is a fourth-year student in International Development Studies co-op and majoring in Human Geography at University of Toronto Scarborough. She engages with alternative and community power mapping as a research practice and currently working on her thesis on the public memorialization processes of the disappeared in Kathmandu, after completing a 10-month placement. As a spacemaker and builder, she values critical/feminist pedagogy, site specific projects and community based arts. At UTSC, she is the VP internal for the Geography and City Studies Student Association, a research and outreach assistant for the Women and Gender Studies Department and the community programs director for the consent culture campaign for the Scarborough Campus Students’ Union. In her spare time, she loves baking focaccia, small talk and biking.
Talk me through the project you submitted for The Alternative Maps Project. What was the initial inspiration for this project? Does the neighbourhood/area that you explore in your work have personal significance for you, and if so, could you explain? Could you talk about your creative processes and why you chose the kind of artistic medium you did?
I made a map based on my experiences travelling route 38 for three years, while attending UTSC and my relationship with the route. My inspiration came from that this map is relevant to my understandings of Scarborough because I am bound to transit. Scarborough is a specific place, which doesn’t get enough credit, is stigmatized and is treated poorly through racist policy, planning and decision making. I am happy to highlight my experiences in Scarborough and my understandings of the place. I chose to make the map digitally using Miro because it was the easiest to draw out my ideas.
What did you notice about the city of Toronto during the COVID closures in the Spring? What changes to public space did you observe? Which of these changes, for you, were positive? Which were negative?
I was actually living in Kathmandu till March 15 and moved back in within my parents who live in Waterloo for the pandemic. So, I cannot comment on the changes in Toronto but I know there are issues of overcrowding on buses, especially in Scarborough.
What issues around the city of Toronto did the COVID crisis highlight for you? What were some of struggles you had with the changing circumstances of the Spring?
I am not living in Toronto during this time but that is also because it is financially difficult during COVID-19 and the lack of public/green space was an issue for me. It is simply easier to live with my parents but also there is space for me indoors and within in public space in Waterloo, over renting a bedroom in Toronto.
What, for you, should a post-COVID Toronto look like? What is the future of cities around the world at this time of crisis, brought about by not only the COVID pandemic, but also the climate crisis?
I hope cities will learn the importance of accessible green space (not only by cars), disability justice, housing affordability and the differential impacts on racialized communities, especially Black communities. Cities should be shaped and designed by the folks living inside them, not just the people with the most power. The inequality in planning just became more evident during COVID-19 and negatively impacted marginalized communities the most, which is not surprising as the city is designed that way. I hope Toronto can be a place of life-giving/affirming institutions, community and joy for all.
What, for you, is the role of artists and creative thinkers in reimagining Toronto at this time?
I think artists and creative thinkers can reimagine and rethink the city in new ways that isn’t dependent on capitalism and inequality. However, I think everyone has a stake in reimagining.
Do you feel as if you have a genuine stake in the city of Toronto as a young person/student/artist? What would you change in the city to feel more engaged in the future of Toronto?
Honestly, I am not considering any Toronto schools for graduate school due to the state of the city, within housing affordability and transit specifically. I think the city could focus on its basic supports (ex. lack of housing, food access, transit deserts) for students, hence for me, particularity. However, the city as an entity could realize that it is more than white/upper class folks who live in Old Toronto. I feel like my stake isn’t there when I am waiting 40 minutes for the 905 at Kennedy station.