OUTSIDE the BOX

Viola Desmond Mosaic

In partnership with Vanessa Thomas and the Halifax Public Libraries, in conjunction with African Heritage Month, we volunteered to design a brick-built mosaic pattern of Viola Desmond.

"In 1946, Halifax businesswoman Viola Desmond confronted the racism that African-Nova Scotians routinely faced when she refused to move from her seat in the “whites-only” section of the Roseland Theatre, formerly of New Glasgow, Nova Scotia. For this, she was arrested, jailed overnight, and fined. Her unsuccessful appeal to the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia attracted broad attention. It confirmed for African-Canadians that the law did not protect them and sparked their activism. Desmond’s resistance to racial discrimination was an important milestone in Canada’s human rights history and an inspiration for the civil rights movement in this country. "

This pattern was used as a guideline at a series of educational (and brick-building fun) workshops held across Halifax in 2024, hosted by the Halifax Public Libraries, facilitated by Vanessa Thomas.

Follow link to CBC News article: https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/1.7115365

Pier 21 Mosaic

In partnership with the Canadian Museum of Immigration at Pier 21 and in collaboration with renowned documentary photographer Vincenzo Pietropaolo, we were asked to create a brick-based mural to feature one of Vincenzo's images of the Kensington Market in Toronto Ontario. These images will be part of an exhibit at the Museum beginning in May 2025, and we are very excited to show you the final work.

The process involved is to digitally translate the original image into a brick-coloured grid, which is then manually manipulated, pixel-by-pixel (or brick-by-brick) to ensure that the final model is sufficiently reflective of the original content. The grid is then broke up into 8x8-sized squares, numbered and prepared for construction.

Then, some 45,000 bricks are ordered from around the globe, instructions are printed, the public is invited and we get building! I'll have more to share on how this went in a little bit! Check back in soon!

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