Abstract

This research-creation thesis explores the ways in which (hyper)local and graphic journalism together are able to capture a changing sense of place—the understanding of and connection to a geographic space—within a local context. It does so by applying Niblock’s “journalism practice as research”, and Chapman and Sawchuk’s “research-for-creation” and “research-from-creation”, to create a (hyper)local-graphic journalism project focused on sense of place in the Montreal neighbourhood of Notre-Dame-de-Grâce (NDG), specifically around NDG Park. This work aims to depict an evolving sense of place while reflecting on the journalist’s role in its creation.
Additionally, informed by this research’s findings and work from artist-journalists, scholarship on sense of place, and practices from first-person journalism, trauma-informed journalism and oral history, this research-creation thesis presents a set of guidelines for creating graphic journalism in a hyperlocal context.