DID YOU KNOW?

- Campfire is an artwork crafted using stainless-steel, Corten steel, concrete pavers, and a hand-carved granite boulder, and is lit at night
- Campfire pays tribute to the Grandmother Moons, represented in the thirteen-sided fire ring and the radiating paver arrays
- Campfire involved community participation, incorporating contributions from the neighborhood's Jean Augustine Centre (JAC) for Young Women's Empowerment. Children's animal drawings from the JAC were transformed into custom perforations, symbolizing the Grandfather Teachings: Love, Humility, Bravery, Honesty, Wisdom, Truth, and Respect
​- The boulder (Story Rock) was hand crafted by Michael Belmore
- Campfire frames the iconic Toronto skyline and everyday's sunrise

 Campfire -  Story Rock 

"Liminal sites, such as shorelines that mark the threshold between opposing elements of water, and the earth and sky – like liminal states of beings, as in the dream between sleep and awake – are spiritually active places.
 
In the Anishinaabe world view, the universe is understood to be comprised of layers. Divided into contrasting upper and lower worlds and zones of power, this tiered cosmos is animated by the ongoing and reciprocal interaction of beings and persons both natural and spiritual. The mishibizhiig are the underwater panthers, and animikiig are the thunderbirds. The mishibizhiig – the underwater panthers – reside in the lower realms of water. With lynx-like bodies, metallic scales, horns, and the tail of a serpent, mishibizhiig rule the lakes, rivers, caves, and deep crevices in the earth. The sky is home to animikiig – the thunderbirds, ancient manitous – or spirits – whose powers manifest in the rainfall, flashes of lightning, and the sound of thunder.
 
For the Anishinaabe, these manitous, or spirits of the sky and water, have long been enemies. Their conflict results in storms, thunder strikes, and the crashing of waves upon the shore. In their struggle is the power that is nature.
 
The carved figures on the granite boulder are meant to compare and contrast the material nature of our being, examining our deeper history in relation to this place where we build our lives."
 
2024

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