Maria Hupfield is the City of Toronto’s inaugural Artist-in-Residence (2023-24) with the City’s Urban Forestry team. Her project Nkweshkoodaadidaa Ekobiiyag brings her creative force to bear in exploring and highlighting perceptions of, and pressures on, Toronto’s ravines.
Toronto is home to one of the largest urban ravine systems in the world, extending over 300 km and covering 17 percent of Toronto’s land area. They are rich in biodiversity, provide ecosystem services and vital habitats for wildlife, and intersect with diverse communities that use and perceive them equally. Climate change and the effects of urbanization, such as increased use, are significantly impacting their natural systems.
Through this project, in support of Toronto’s Ravine Strategy, the City will showcase the benefits of its ravines, the impacts the public has on them and the ongoing commitments that staff, volunteers, partners and residents have made to preserve and improve this invaluable resource. Hupfield’s artistic contribution supports the development of creative approaches to sustainably celebrate these precious spaces by working with existing structures to encourage recognition and respect for nature across Toronto.
Location: Bridge on Taylor Creek
Nkweshkoodaadidaa Ekobiiyag is a public artwork that transforms a bridge on Taylor Creek into an art destination and meeting place. Taylor Creek is a tributary of the Don Valley and the bridge marks the fourth crossing point at a tranquil unique meeting site situated amongst two bodies of water at different elevations. The title of this work translates from Anishnaabemowin as a request to “meet me by the water.”
For this project, the bridge was hand-painted in a dynamic diagonal surface pattern design in bright yellow as a signal of visibility and wayfinding for guests and visitors to the park. Hupfield states:
Yellow paint has become a signature colour used throughout my work. When applied to the wooden armatures and support structures that display my creations the bright colour renders them easy to navigate when further activated in live performances. By painting the bridge, I seek to focus on the people who use the bridge, the bridge itself, and the site as essential elements in meaning making and the creation of public artwork.
Nkweshkoodaadidaa Ekbiiyag alters the current landscape and functions as a visual disruption to unsettle perspectives that heighten the act of looking. Bridges bring people together and connect isolated places to one another. Rather than build a new bridge to unify places or people that are otherwise separated, Hupfield looked to this occasion as an opportunity to work with the existing structure to build on the image of the bridge as a powerful connection and symbol of previous and ongoing work and hope. During her time and research throughout the residency, the ravines continue to present themselves as a meeting place, a site of return to be in contemplation and conversation with land and waters.
Experience a version of the artwork anywhere in the world by entering the Meet Me By the Water augmented reality experience, without having to download an app. It was created by Hupfield in collaboration with the DARKFRAME Media And Design team.
Learn more about Nkweshkoodaadidaa Ekobiiyag and hear the song Meet Me by the Water by Brenda MacIntyre from the Awakening CD by Spirit Wind.
Initially created for the Toronto Public Art Strategy, the City of Toronto’s Artist in Residence (AiR) program embeds creativity as a core element in city-building and centralizes the effort across various City divisions to bring visibility to the arts as a significant part of the civic process. The AiR has a unique opportunity to create lasting impacts on departmental practices, improve relations between civil servants and citizens and increase visibility for marginalized populations while providing meaningful integration of art into everyday city-building.
