Going Down to Jackson

Esther Vincent ,  Going Down To Jackson, 2015

Artweek Peterborough hosted The Jackson Creek Project in 2015 and invited artists to celebrate and explore Jackson Creek which runs through the centre of the city.

Jackson Creek is often under threat from development. It is repeatedly the subject of contention in an ongoing debate when the specter of a parkway development threatens to destroy the natural environment of Jackson Creek and Jackson Park, the most uninterrupted and extensive natural space within the city of Peterborough. Many Peterborough citizens regularly protest the proposals for this parkway.

In light of this threat to the creek and the park, I wanted to document the full length of the creek and the people who love it. I put out a call and was overwhelmed with positive response. Through August and September 2015, I photographed a total of seventy seven subjects at locations of their choosing.

The final video, with a soundtrack of the creek’s moving water, is a document of the changeable and persistent nature of this body of water that moves through Peterborough, giving it life and acting as a perennial reminder of the land as it was before the city was built on its banks.

Showings:
­• Monday, Sept. 21 – Thursday, Sept 24, 2015
9pm ’till 12 midnight
On the Baskin Robbins building across from Artspace (378 Aylmer St N)

• Friday, Sept. 25, 2015
9pm ’till 12 midnight
projecting from Electric City Gardens, 373 Queen St . (part of SAMPLE un salon des refusés)

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Media about the project:

• Trent Radio interview with Laural Paluck, Sept 18, 2015:

• Peterborough Dialogues – video interview from right after a shoot:

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Opening Preview – Friday, September 18, 2015 at the Artsweek opening party at Artspace (378 Aylmer St N) from 9pm to 11 pm.

Put on a pair of rubber boots, stand in Jackson Creek and get your photo taken.

That’s all that was required to take part in “Going Down to Jackson.”

Within 48 hours of the call there were dozens of responses. Families, individuals, organizations, everyone wanted a chance to celebrate Jackson Creek.

Some of the subjects had spent endless childhood hours in the creek. Some has a special spot, a place that was meaningful to them. Some had never set foot in Jackson Creek before the shoot.

There were fun moments, goofy moments, serious moments but each of the shoots was a significant moment by the end of it.

For me, those collective moments, the time shared in the flowing waters brought a realization of how important this moving, changeable body of water is to our community.

Thanks to everyone who put on the boots and got soakers, and splashed, and played, and mourned, and sang, and celebrated.

Long Live Jackson Creek.

Thank-you.

-Esther Vincent