Thousands of commuters travelling daily from the United States to Canada along the new Gordie Howe International Bridge will pass by artwork created by a Port Moody resident.
This week, the bridge project team unveiled the piece by Sara Graham — a commissioned work called On the Other Side of Tomorrow, which is attached to the outside of the maintenance building at the Canadian Port of Entry in Windsor, Ont.
Her artwork is made up of 22 stamped concrete panels, each measuring about 10 by 23 feet, and includes scenes of Canada’s national and regional landscape.
The scenes are told through illustrative mapping techniques and uses various optical perspectives of suburban, industrial and agricultural land, as well as mountains, bodies of water and roads.
"I wanted to create a design that captures the attention of the audience who will be in a moving vehicle while highlighting the many urban and natural forms that define Canada," Graham said in a news release.
"The title, On the Other Side of Tomorrow, plays with the notion that people will be travelling to another country and returning home. I am extremely grateful and proud to be chosen for this public art commission on a once-in-a-generation project such as the Gordie Howe International Bridge."
Set to open next year, the bridge is a cable-stayed crossing of the Detroit River and will link Windsor with Detroit via Highway 401 in Ontario and interstates 75 and 96 in Michigan.
When complete, the $5.7-billion bridge will be one of the longest in North America.
Graham, an Ottawa native who has a master’s degree in fine arts from the University of Guelph, was Port Moody’s first-ever artist-in-residence.
She's also currently co-organizing The Shuffle in Port Moody in June.
Next month, the Windsor–Detroit Bridge Authority, along with Art Windsor–Essex, will host an exhibit featuring life-size reproductions of Graham’s panels for the bridge.
