visual observations from my area

technique 1:
I brought chalk with me to my area and approached some kids in a park to come draw on the sidewalk. I asked them about the neighbourhood and told them to draw whatever they wanted (things they saw around them, their favourite things, or anything else). We even ended up drawing a hop-scotch and jumping around on that for a bit.

"Heel leuk dat er zo veel parkjes zijn!"

"Het klimrek is mijn favoriet."

"Ja, wij tekenen heel veel!"

"We gaan allemaal op andere plekken naar school."

"Ik ga alle groenten tekenen!!"

technique 2:
I approached a woman who was walking her dog in the area and asked her if she could tell me anything about the neighborhood.

summary of what she told me:

The community is very multicultural and welcoming. She has one child who is half Antillian and one child who is half Surinamese. She said that the different cultures tend to group together but everyone gets along well. She never feels unsafe in the area and thinks the adults in the area are very kind. However, she said there are definitely two ways to view the neighborhood, and she chooses to focus mostly on the positive. Unfortunately, she doesn't feel comfortable letting her kids play outside by themselves as this is an area in which there are groups of young boys walking around with big knives (shown in the news a lot). She loves all of the parks and greenery and wishes it was safer for her kids to enjoy. She described it as having the look of a small village like where she grew up, but without the safety of a village. She plans to move away from the area with her family as soon as possible.

technique 3:
I took pictures of people in the area going about their daily business.

I took this picture due to the lack of people sitting in their front lawns with very nice weather.

The man in the striped t-shirt was playing music and dancing as people walked by.

This image shows the shopping street near the centre of my area.

This elderly couple was sitting on a bench looking out onto the very loud highway; quite an unusual spot to choose to sit in my opinion.

There were a lot of people biking on this hill. This is the hill on one side of the highway that divides my area.

This man was "walking" his dog but from the comfort of his automatic wheel-chair.