Activation through creative interaction
Activation
through creative interaction.
As if stepping through a portal into the unknown, we trust that our collective efforts will transport us somewhere better than where we are now.
Passing through Gateway is a gesture of communal trust towards an unmapped vision for our collective future: This is a one way trip and we’re all in.
Community isn’t guaranteed,
it’s a choice we make together.
GATEWAY
GATEWAY
Pride Toronto 2025
Pride Toronto 2025
Community isn’t guaranteed,
it’s a choice we make together.
As if stepping through a portal into the unknown, we trust our collective efforts to transport us somewhere better than where we are now.
Passing through, or under, Gateway is a metaphorical gesture of communal trust towards an unmapped vision for our collective future: This is a one way trip and we’re all in.
Proposal Sketch
Installed at the Drake Hotel, Toronto
The abstract shapes forming the front-most layer of Gateway are adorned with the sentiments of community members.
Using a google form as the collection method, individuals were asked what the 2025 Toronto Pride theme “All In” meant to them.
Snippets of these responses were then hand-written onto the individual pieces to fortify the communal messaging.
Materials/Method
Materials
Waste fated plastics; hot drink cup lids, food packaging, egg-hunt containers, garbage bags, CDs, party table cloths and fabric scraps
Method
Depending on the material, they were either melted via heat gun and chain-linked together, or fused with an iron and sewn for support.
Building on the concept of a ‘fidget cube’, the Coping Cube is an object of tactile joy and whimsy that encourages people of all ages and nuero-types to engage in therapeutic play and exploration.
This piece was created for the group show Fortification, a curation of art which intended to call back to the forts and other similar safe spaces of childhood while drawing attention to the stresses of our adult realities. It was a refuge built for all ages, with an underlying commentary that spoke only to adults. Recalling, and hopefully re-igniting a version of their being that was long since left behind.
Encouraging playful, tactile interaction as a tool for decompression and stress relief.
Pride Toronto 2024
Fortification Group Show 2025
COPING CUBE
Playful, tactile interaction for decompression and overall stress relief.
A proclamation of existence that reaches from the past and branches into the future.
DEEPLY ROOTED
Building on the concept of a ‘fidget cube’, the Coping Cube is an object of tactile joy and whimsy that encourages people of all ages and nuero-types to engage in therapeutic play and exploration.
This piece was created for the group show Fortification, a curation of art which intended to call back to the forts and other similar safe spaces of childhood while drawing attention to the stresses of our adult realities. It was a refuge built for all ages, with an underlying commentary that spoke only to adults. Recalling, and hopefully re-igniting a version of their being that was long since left behind.
Looking through any of the windows to the inside of the cube, one can find a landscape of fractured and unfinished day dreams, real pieces of my own past artworks. These are the precious fragments of joy that find refuge inside the coping cube.
Materials/Method
Materials
Second-hand toys, textiles and findings, Remnants of previous art explorations and projects, foam clay, second-hand plastic pegboard.
Method
Each side of the cube was made in a different manner in order to best support its given materials and textures. Sides consisting of textiles were hand stitched, the side made of foam clay was attached simply by the sticky nature of foam clay itself, and all other pieces were attached with a variety of glues depending on material.
A proclamation of our existence that reaches from the past and branches into the future.
DEEPLY ROOTED
Pride Toronto 2024
Pride Toronto 2024
A proclamation of existence that reaches from the past and branches into the future.
DEEPLY ROOTED
Proposal Sketch
From our roots, that twisted and wound through obstacles to carve out space for our survival, we developed solid platforms on which our community could grow and thrive. Like a generational garden, we are well established and ever-expanding, with histories too deep to displace. Collectively formidable and breathtaking, we have been and we will be.
For we are Deeply Rooted.
Materials/Method
Platforms
Laser-cut MDF, insulation foam, waste-fated materials (black plastics, straws etc.), foam clay, UV resin.
Roots
Second-hand/thrifted fabrics, shredded paper and reclaimed poly stuffing, cardboard.
Roots and platforms contain screw-tops and their corresponding plastic jars to allow disassembly for easier storage and transport.
More coming soon!
STAY TUNED