Hamilton: a guidebook from memory

Hamilton Artists Inc. is pleased to work in partnership with local artist and writers JoJo Cooi-Harley and Robert Motum for their special project “Hamilton: a guidebook”, the newest edition in the Guidebooks from Memory series, which “is a community art project toward the creation of physical ‘guidebooks’ to communities in southern Ontario. Unlike traditional tourist guides which highlight local attractions, these books present a community-sourced anthology of memories, and invite you to experience your city through the stories of your neighbours.”

We are so excited to help bring the Hamilton edition of this publication to light and we encourage all members of our community to support this project and submit memories that speak to place and locations within Hamilton.

A statement from the project team:

Hamilton: a guidebook from memory follows the 2016 publication of Kitchener-Waterloo: a guidebook from memory (Motum/Samms). Like this previous iteration, we’re inviting residents of our community to submit memories connected to places in our city.

Memory submissions will be mapped or ‘plotted’ into a physical guidebook of Hamilton. Each story will be accompanied by a sketch of the memory location by local artist Jojo Chooi-Harley, as well as a short musical composition (streamable online) by Jonathan Harley.

​The final guidebook will be published in a limited print-run and will be made available for free as a digital e-book. We intend to launch the book with a walking of the map in early 2022.

It is our hope that this project will provide a creative and meaningful glance into the life and stories of residents in Hamilton; and offer an invitation to explore our city through the stories of our neighbours.

You can find out more about Guidebooks from Memory and submit a story at guidebooksfrommemory.com/