Back in October of 2023, I saw a post on Facebook from Chinook Country Historical Society which mentioned a couple of researchers from Alberta University of the Arts were conducting a study on the practices of placing expired license plates on garage walls.

I contacted the researchers and volunteered. Initially I was told they wanted to focus on people closer to downtown Calgary but a few months later I was contacted and asked if I was still interested in participating. I certainly was!

The interview took place in May of 2024. Ian Fitzgerald (lead researcher) and Scott Cressman (co-researcher) came out to my place in Cochrane and we spent a good hour or more talking about my license plates and reasons why I collect them.

The results of their research resulted in a video which premiered in November of last year at SAIT. The other participants and I were invited to attend the screening and then sit on a live panel afterwards to field questions from the audience, which mostly consisted of art students attending AUArts.

This was a great experience and a lot of fun, right from the initial interview through the final presentation. A couple weeks ago I asked them if the video was available online anywhere and they sent me the link to the video on Scott’s YouTube page. It is unlisted (which is why I wasn’t able to find it anywhere by searching) so I hope they don’t mind if I share it here. I think this was a fascinating project and I would love more people to see it.