The Artwork - Motion in Air (Ma)

motion in air (ma)

Jennifer Macklem dedicates this artwork with love and gratitude to her mother, Joy Belcourt Macklem, born in 1930.

DF Lake Shore LP dedicates this artwork in memory of a great leader, sponsor of women in leadership and business and champion of worker/employee rights and workplace safety, Mr. Enrico Mancinelli.

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Motion in Air (Ma) is conceived as a striking gateway project at the threshold of the City of Toronto. Intended as a large, welcoming image that graces the shoreline of the Great Lake Ontario, the artwork is comprised of vibrant colours and images that evoke water, sky and plant life. It pays homage to the interconnections of local ecology with images of dragonflies and their intricate wings, and includes diatoms and botany. This artwork is conceived during our era of environmental challenge and intends to spark curiosity and attention towards specific details of the natural, living world.

This monumental installation is longer than the length of a football field, measuring 12.5 meters (41 ft) x 120 meters (395 ft). It is comprised of over 500 dye-sublimated custom printed panels that are being manufactured by Canadian company, Alto™ and installed by Triumph. The images were designed to work with the building, the context, and celebrate its natural surroundings. The artwork was applied to the recyclable aluminum panels, adorning and enhancing the exterior while simultaneously being a sustainable, high-quality solution. The innovative process is environmentally responsible and durable for use in highly humid, marine and cold-weather outdoor conditions.

interconnected

Every shoreline is a “living edge” or “ribbon of life” where land, water, and air meet. Healthy natural shorelines along lakes, creeks, rivers, ponds, canals, estuaries, and oceans contribute significantly to the overall health of our entire water system. The environmental benefits of shorelines, or riparian zones, are diverse. Native vegetation such as cattails, lily pads, and trembling aspens provide birthplaces, food, and shelter for 90 percent of all aquatic and terrestrial lake and river life. Plants pump oxygen into the water for everything from microbes to minnows. Water quality is ensured by the ability of these same plants to filter sediments and pollutants.

dragonflies

Dragonflies, with their 300 million years of ancestry on the planet carry a remarkable evolutionary history. From the fossil record we see that they had wingspans that measured up to thirty inches while today’s smaller, agile dragonflies come in a multitude of iridescent colour variations. Dragonflies are like portents from a mysterious world that we are all a part of, thriving beyond the reach of human language and arising from deep prehistory, contributing in their own way towards a healthy ecosystem.

diatoms

Diatoms are single-celled algae that live in houses made of glass. They are the only organism on the planet with cell walls composed of transparent, opaline silica. Diatom cell walls are ornamented by intricate and striking patterns of silica. Diatoms turn energy from the sun into sugar. Diatoms have light-absorbing molecules (chlorophylls a and c) that collect energy from the sun and turn it into chemical energy through photosynthesis. Diatoms produce about 50% of the oxygen we breathe and are plentiful micro-organisms in fresh and salt water. They are beautiful, microscopic, jewel-like structures.

cherry blossoms

The blooming of the Sakura (cherry blossom) trees are a springtime marvel in High Park. Cherry blossoms hit peak bloom in late April or May. The artwork features cross section diagrams of the local blossom.

ferns

There are over 10,000 species of ferns, some of which:

provide microhabitats, as well as shelter and shade to small animals

provide a source of food or medicine for animals, including people

ceremonial and spiritual use or importance

colonize disturbed sites as one stage in succession

filter toxins, such as heavy metals, from environments and thus provide a bioindicator for the health of an ecosystem

evolve to fill unique niches in ecosystems and co-evolve with other species (often endemic)

Most ferns have rhizomes, underground stems from which the leaves are produced. Many ferns have long, creeping rhizomes that form intricate, interconnected networks underground, and while the leaves may drop off due to age or cold weather, these rhizomes can persist indefinitely, sending up new leaves year after year.