London Public Library

This piece, Together, was created for the London Public Library as part of their Truth and Reconciliation work.

I kept coming back to the feeling of what it means to be in a shared space, like a library, where people come together to learn, gather, and exist alongside one another. Geographically, London is a special place, surrounded by three unique Indigenous nations and has also acted as a shared gathering space for time immemorial.

What does it look like to hold care, connection, and responsibility in shared spaces like these?

The woodland inspired floral arrangement is meant to illustrate the idea of everyone being unique but all finding belonging. There are a variety of different flowers but they all come from the same stem and root. Although we are all different, we can all find security and belonging together.

The book at the base of the work is meant to represent the library as a space to seek knowledge, open doors and open books. The water flowing into the centre of the piece honours connectedness and pays respect to the three separate nations that share the territory London sits on. Territory that is connected and accessible by water.

The turtle was chosen for this piece as turtles are natural knowledge keepers because of the calendars on their backs, just like the library. The design within the logo features three connected blocks within the "L"'s to represent the three area First Nations and that share the territory London sits on. The abstract pattern found in the “P” was designed to resemble a sweetgrass braid to honour the library as a place of kindness—just like sweetgrass.