A Multi-Sensory Artistic Piece!
Love Letters is a 150-foot visual record of experiences that speaks through pattern, text and audio to detail how we come to know and understand love in all of its layers of complexity.
It is located at the foot of York Street and Queens Quay West on Toronto’s waterfront.
Vision
Love Letters is an artistic piece that prods the viewer to consider vivid and rich textures of love and how it is understood as a symbol, a thought, a language, and a feeling. The artwork surrounds the construction area for Love Park, a new 2-acre park being brought to life by Waterfront Toronto and the City of Toronto.
Exploring Love
The name, Love Letters, is a play on words because we designed large letters that spell out love, but also requested the public to submit letters to love. A goal of the Love Letters project is to explore love in a way that looks beyond what it means romantically.
Components
- Different shapes, patterns, mediums (visual, textual, & audio) because love comes in various forms.
- Augmented Reality (AR) accessed through the free Artivive App and can be used on-site to add an additional dimension to the art piece.
Texture & Shape
We examined patterns in fabrics from African countries and observed how the shapes worked together. We selected patterns that can be found in coastal African countries to offer a connection to the art piece’s location along the waterfront.
Samakaka
This print is from southern Angola, recognized for its vivid colours and bold line work. It originates from the Mumuila tribe, where the symbols also function as a form of communication.
A typical Samakaka print will often include the colours black, red, and yellow.
ShweShwe
This print can be found in the regions of Botswana, Lesotho, and most popularly in South Africa.
This pattern is characterized for its subtly and intricate geometric shapes. It is most commonly found in blue, red or brown and worn for weddings.
Community Engagement
Dear Love...
We collected brief audio and written responses from the community. These letters were addressed to love and depict how love is understood as a symbol, a thought, a language, and a feeling.
The collected love letters were also incorporated into the artistic visual and audio design of the project.
Gallery
Love Letters
Augmented Reality
This project incorporates Augmented Reality (AR)!
The AR components of Love Letters were designed by Never Gallery Ready (NgR). Download the Artivive App to see Love Letters come to life!
30+
Love letters
6
Artists
5
Partners
1
Amazing Art Installation
Nico Taylor
a writer, scholar, digital and performance artist who uses feminism and critical race theory to dissect constructions surrounding race and representation, most especially how we make sense of the images that surround us.
Queen Kukoyi
a queer femme presenting, mother, educator, activist, and international artist. She explores spoken word poetry, digital collage, and animations that touch on concepts surrounding the Afrofuturistic meditative space.
Curtia Wright
a multi-disciplinary fine art & mural artist based in Toronto, ON. Her works delve into the spiritual and mental wellness of peoples of the African diaspora; linking to mythology/folklore while disseminating what ‘fantasy’ means.
Never Gallery Ready (NgR)
NgR is an arts organization providing media-literacy focused arts education to children and youth. Artists involved in Love Letters: karen darricades, Ai, and Bayan A. Chacra.
Supporters:
Love Letters was designed by Oddside Arts in collaboration with Waterfront Toronto, Waterfront BIA and STEPS Public Art.
