A new exhibit at the Harbourfront Centre explores Canadian ethno-cultural diversity by visually expressing the 2001 census data in a band of colours that stretches some twenty feet long. Long time Creative Leapist, Angela Iarocci and moimoi colleague Claire Ironside started this project some 12 months ago and are now seeing the fruits of their labour realized in the Service Canada display space. Oddly, when the piece was at the printers it provoked some controversy. While Angela and Claire saw the project as a positive statement of Canadian diversity or even an interesting and objective window into Canadians’ declaration of their ethnic origin on the census questionnaire, others view it as an objectionable and divisive comment on divided national loyalties. Whatever your view, it will hopefully make clear the often murky statistics the Canadian census provides (no mention of how many Canadians declared their religion as “Jedi Knight”?)

Labels: art, design