Unveiling Heroes of the Block
Unveiling Heroes of the Block
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OVERVIEW
Unveiling Heroes of the Block
Type: Installation
Artist involved: Quentin VerCetty, Yung Yemi (Adeyemi Adegbesan), Danilo Deluxo, Meighan Morson, Autumn Beal
Lead Artists & Designers - Quentin VerCetty
Structure design and project consultant: Dan Bergeron
DATE: June 2022
LOCATION:
MEDIUM: Acrylic on Wall
DIMENSIONS:
PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
Unveiling Heroes of the Block is a visual narrative and archiving project by Quentin VerCetty and his BSAM Canada collective - Now AstroSankofa Arts Initiatives, as part of ArtworxTO: City of Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021-2022. The initiative consists of 4 panel installations and 4 digital iteration that feature unique speculative portraits that seeks to uncover the buried and lesser-known stories of prominent African Canadian figures that contributed to the foundational fabric of the Toronto we know and experience today. Each art panel are installed in the respective parks relating to the history of the depicted subject. Unveiling Heroes is inspired by Camille Turner’s “Black Grange” project and Dan Bergeron’s “Faces of Regent Park''. As it’s a way to tell history and engage the community wherein special tours and programming have been taking place with each site. Each gathering featuring different ways for community to think about how they can speculatively “unveil” the regional stories further
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The installation consists of design features made by Quentin VerCetty and artistically interpreted portraits digitally converted to be rasterized and infused directly into specially coated aluminum sheets. The aluminum prints are coated with a protective film and installed in a steel frame that will allow it to stand upright in the park.
The works have been installed with the goal of increasing community pride through accessible visual representation that publicly shares and celebrates leaders from the Black community who have left notable, yet sometimes untold, imprints on many lives.
Funded by: City of Toronto, Heritage Toronto
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GALLERY