Correspondence (A Long Story VII) is a new evolution of Lauren A. Pirie’s “A Long Story” series of soft-sculptural installations; long, soft arm forms wrapping around and embracing each other and the environments they inhabit. These sculptures seek to illuminate inherent interconnectedness between human and human and to our shared environment. This year’s theme “Renewal” is prominent throughout Pirie’s work: ideas of regeneration processed through a collective of entangled, interconnected paths. This theme, while timeless, feels especially relevant in our climate of heightened anxieties and rising temperatures. Looking to ecology and mysticism, science and fiction, Pirie explores our yearning for connection, and at the same time, possibility in a new dawn.
Correspondence imagines the soft sculpture and lighting-based work intertwining with the existing structure of the bridge which both supports and passes over the footpath at Trillium Park. Working with the structure and metaphor of the bridge as a symbol of forward movement and connection, the forms are woven and intertwined on-site to create a sculptural mass suspended in the shadows below. Passing underneath, visitors will be bathed in the glow of a blend of sunrise hues; the metaphorical effect of the energy harnessed by its connection to community, and the more-than-human natural world. While walking along the top of the bridge, we will meet two hands wrapping around the railings and bringing the glow of renewed energy collected from below.
With thanks to: Vivian Pan, Rodrigo Marti, Phil A. Pax, Raoul Olou and Jahmal Padmore
Artists
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Lauren Pirie
Lauren Pirie is a Toronto-based artist working in a range of media and scale, from intricate ink drawings and paintings to large-scale murals and sculptural installations. Her practice explores ideas of interconnection in relation to ecology, desire, and evolution; both as themes in her own artwork and through collaborating with other artists. Pirie was a co-founder of grassroots art and environmental organization, The About Face Collective. Her site-responsive installations have exhibited in DesignTO and Winter Light and recently received grant funding as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art. Recent gallery exhibitions include Maake Projects in Pennsylvania, Mayten’s Projects in Toronto in collaboration with Jah Grey, Open Space Gallery, and at PADA Studios and Gallery in Lisbon, Portugal, where she was in residence last Fall.
