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TAKE ROOT

2018 - Commissioned by the City of Richmond
Vinyl Mural Wrap,  45' x 9.5'

City Centre Community Centre

In Spring of 2018 I was commissioned by the City of Richmond to create a permanent, vinyl mural for the Fitness Centre at the City Centre Community Centre, as well as lead five workshops related to my artwork.  At the first two workshops community members were invited to create abstract artwork on two large mixed media paper sheets.  These were later cut into leaves which I arranged into a vine formation.  I also led workshops in tea making, basket making, and a plant walk at Minoru Park.

“Take Root” was created directly from community collaboration. It stresses the individual and at the same time the importance of togetherness. Each individual leaf serve as a metaphor for the diversity of people, how everyone is unique, and every individual is part of a complex, interconnected “organism,” specifically a city which is part of a series of much larger complexes, such as our province, country, continent, and planet. There’s an irony to this work, of creating leaves out of paper when paper itself comes from the plants which leaves grow on. The juxtaposition of these leaves with those that grow naturally reflect the tension between the synthetic and the organic, how we often see ourselves as seperate from nature though we are very much a part of it. In an increasingly urban environment how can we maintain our connection to the land which sustains us?

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