TRANSFORMING GRIEF: Together and Loss in COVID-19

Temporary Exhibition: 1500 sq. ft. – Fort York Visitor Centre

Role: Design Director / Art Director

 

In the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic swept across Tkaronto/Toronto. This immediate transformation caused many to be left with a real sense of unease, forcing many to change how to go about daily lives and interact with each other. Some were pushed outside, onto the front lines. Others lost loved ones. Most were lonely and many grieved.

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This exhibition brings together dance, paintings, videos, mixed-media installations, and artifacts. They represent the collective voices of community members, artists, front-line workers, activists and volunteers, and convey how we experienced and continue to experience the pandemic. 

 

Transforming Grief was designed to welcome the widest possible audience including features to help navigate and engage with the exhibition experience, including:

 

• Multilingual (Anishinaabemowin, English, French, and Braille).

• Tactile floor braille for reader rail awareness, which includes English braille and a QR code to access all exhibition text, visual and guided tactile descriptions, and transcripts in English, French, and Anishinaabemowin.

• Artworks can be experienced through touch, either by interacting with the original artwork, or the touchable samples provided throughout the installation, including tactile representation of the graphic works of the exhibition. 

• Videos have captions, and audio description in English and French, and integrated American Sign Language.

• Wheelchairs, printed and tactile maps, and large print pamphlets of the exhibition text are available at the front desk.

• Finally, for a sensory friendly space visit the Quiet Room.