from books to walls
Our books turned into murals that turned into festivals.
It all started with a couple of books.
We Live Up Here started in 2012 as a collective of artists with the desire to create a collaborative photography book celebrating Sudbury’s urban culture.
Curated by Christian Pelletier and Andrew Knapp, the project invited sudburians to submit their photos of Sudbury; authentic, urban, a little rough around the edges, but beautiful and inspiring. After sifting through thousands of submissions from over 300 photographers, We Live Up Here, the book, launched in December 2012 and immediately sold out.
Volume I
In 2012, we set out to create something beautiful with you and for you, and that's exactly what happened. We found something that wasn't visible before. We proved to ourselves that it is possible. And you inspired the hell out of us.
The book has since sold out, but you can get volume II here.
Volume II
This book is not a sequel; it is the continuation of a perpetual story. We Live Up Here Volume 2 is a taste of life in Sudbury, and a dose of nostalgia for anyone who has ever called Sudbury home.
The collaborative photography book features over 250 photographs from over 100 local photographers.
The second volume of We Live Up Here was launched at the Grand Theatre in 2014. It features over 250 photographs from over 100 local photographers.
And then we made Stupid Little buttons.
To raise money to print the book, we made these funny little pins.
Filled with Sudbury inside jokes, we ended up pressing and shipping over to 20,000 of these stupid little buttons to Sudburians and expats around the planet.
The pins poked fun at Sudbury’s flaws with tongue planted firmly in cheek. They continue to be a stupid hit to this day.
and then we started painting murals.
Inspired by the momentum created by the photography book, We Live Up Here decided to create new murals around the city.
Since 2013, We Live Up Here has curated & created over 100 new pieces of public art in and around downtown Sudbury.
Up Here Festival is born.
Catapulted by an ever-growing team and community momentum, We Live Up Here launched Up Here, an ambitious new festival that merged urban art, emerging music, and community in August 2015.
Up Here has since grown into one of the most anticipated indie-arts events north of Toronto.
