The Ipperwash Beach Walk

Synopsis

Monica Virtue’s thesis project uses geo-location to deliver documentary media and interactive visualizations to mobile users during an embodied “beach walk” along a disputed strip of land on Lake Huron. As users travel a historic trail between two Indigenous communities, crossing a series of GPS points along the water’s edge, they learn via smartphone how settlers colonized Ipperwash Beach, presenting a form of counter-mapping as an alternate viewpoint to mainstream notions about how Ipperwash Beach became a vacation destination. Created through the use of co-design methods, the project is intended to benefit the Chippewas of Kettle & Stony Point First Nation through a sharing of original archival research, an opportunity to improve relationships with non-Indigenous neighbours, and a value-added experience for the carloads of tourists who visit each summer.