Dragons Chasing the Moon (Winter 2022-2023)
Dimensions: 5.18 x 78.94 x 3.65 m. / 17 x 259 x 12 feet (street), and 5.18 x 38.1 x 13.71 m. / 17 x 125 x 45 feet (Place Sun Yat-Sen)
This outdoor winter installation expands my long-standing commitment to actively support Chinatown communities. Illuminating Chinatown is a way to bring lightness and joy during the dark winter months, as well as encouraging residents and visitors to spend more time in this neighbourhood.
A family of dragons, created by a multitude of banners and inspired by traditional cutouts, spiral up the lampposts all along the pedestrianized De La Gauchetière street starting with the dragon’s ‘tail’ at the corner of St. Urbain. The lit colorful panels mix together auspicious and traditional Chinese papercutting motifs, including flowers, tigers, rabbits, dragons, and other animals symbolizing biodiversity and the renewal of life. As we follow the path of the dragons, the colors of the panels change from pink to yellow to orange to red (colors associated with Lunar New Year). We are also being taken on a journey of transformation towards the ‘head’ of the dragon at the centre of Sun-Yat Sen Park, where suspended high above the heads of visitors are three glowing rings formed by the illuminated panels. Viewing from underneath, the visitor sees the shapes of a rabbit, cloud, and moon, and begins celebrating the end of the Year of the Tiger in 2022, ushering in the Year of the Rabbit in 2023, and hints to the Year of the Dragon in 2024.
Commissioned by the Quartier des Spectacles Partnership and the Marché de nuit asiatique.
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