RETREEWPG is a collective call to action to plant more trees in Winnipeg as part of Cool Gardens 2021.
Trees are vital to the health and well-being of our environment. Trees not only filter the air we breathe, but they also provide an abundance of positive impacts including climate control, natural habitat, beauty, and a sense of reprieve in the urban setting. Winnipeg’s tree canopy is declining due to severe weather, invasive pests, urban development, and disease. This Cool Gardens Project aims to bring awareness to this critical issue that affects all of us.
Throughout the city, green and yellow abstract tree shapes were formed from flagging tape. The bold colourful triangles will contrast the urban environment, drawing attention to the need to contribute to our city’s tree canopy. To kickstart the initiative, a group of individuals were given a tree to plant and tape to install their own green and yellow triangle. The installation of each triangle aims to draw attention to this environmental issue. Photographs were collected and shared across social media platforms, encouraging public awareness and participation in this call to action.
Additionally, a series of local businesses participated by displaying these green and yellow tree forms. Through collective action we strive to help maintain and grow awareness for the need to protect and maintain our urban tree canopy.
Masked Conversations by Chukwuebuka Idafum, Kenyo Musa and Victor Odusanya
2021 Student Competition Winner
Masked Conversations responds to the context of the site, a “theatre”, a place where a play is staged, and a relationship between the audience and the performance is established. It questions: What is a stage? What is a play? And who is the audience? Masked Conversations aims at questioning these three different dimensions in a finessed approach as well as provoking one’s curiosity. Our audience, “the public” are pulled in by seven sculpted figures “the cast” who tell an evoking story through facial expressions. The presence of these figures sets the scene but only with the engagement of the audience, the stage comes alive, and a performance commences. It is an obscured conversation between the audience and the cast.