From the lower windows of Toronto City Hall, many pairs of eyes peer out onto Nathan Phillips Square. If you pass quickly, you could miss them, but look closely and you will see men, women, and children, from all over the world, looking back at you.
The portraits are part of a installation called Fresh Eyes, created as part of an ongoing Toronto-based public art project by Arrivals.ca and commissioned by the TO2015 Pan/Parapan Am Games Organizing Committee and its Arts and Culture Advisory Council.
Transparent photographs depicting the eyes of new Canadian immigrants have been applied to the windows of the city councillors’ offices, creating a striking view from the square. The goal of the photographic installation is to tell the stories of new Canadian citizens and to celebrate diversity in our city through visual art. Their placement over the windows of the councillors’ offices allow city officials to “see through the eyes of a new citizen”.
Fresh Eyes debuted this July in celebration of the three-year countdown to the Toronto Pan Am Games opening ceremony. The project seeks to reflect the games’ goal to be “inclusive, welcoming, and a celebration of all citizens.”
The portraits in Nathan Phillips Square will be on display until the end of July. Photographs of the project and various other online components are available at arrivals.ca.
Photos by Che Kothari and Taiwo Bah for Arrivals.ca.
One comment
Thank you Clair – great work.
(psst also check out the final Arrivals section of the Star in Celebrations this Sat. http://arrivalsproject.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/arrivals-sat-celebrations.jpg )