Toronto+Vancouver City of Labyrinths Project

Exploring the Strathcona Neighbourhood in East End Vancouver, British Columbia on Saturday…
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Now THIS is interesting.

Lands End Labyrinth in San Francisco as a Tiny Planet.

Photograph by Karen X. Cheng.

Here in Halifax to begin my second leg of 30 Masjids CANADA. This is a separate project from Toronto City of Labyrinths and is a different area of my life… yet here they are overlapping.

Again.

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While exploring Montréal, my Sister-in-Law Instagrammed this wonderful example of Giant Outstallation Art.

Due to time constraints, my Brother and his Wife weren’t able to walk it.

Almost makes me want to hop onto ViaRail to visit Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal just to experience it…

OR

I just find a street here in Toronto, make one, and save everyone the trip.

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“A film about Mark Wallinger‘s Labyrinth.
Directed by Jared Schiller

This 30 minute documentary explores the ideas behind Mark Wallinger’s major artwork commission for London Underground,

From the influence of Harry Beck’s Tube map to the Guinness Book of Records’ Tube Challenge,

Alongside personal responses to the artworks by travellers and Underground staff.”

“2013 was the 150th anniversary of the London Underground.

To celebrate, artist Mark Wallinger has created ‘Labyrinth’, a series of 270 unique artworks – one for every station on the network.

The film reveals the inspiration and processes behind the project during a journey that starts in Chigwell, where Mark was brought up, and ends in St James’s Park, the site of the first installed work.

Along the way we also visit Mark in his Soho studio, and a factory in Redhill, Surrey, where the artworks are being meticulously handmade.”

Windsor Labyrinth, Sunday July 21 2013

During my 30 Masjids Ontario Ramadan Roadtrip, I chalked out this Labyrinth in Windsor, Ontario.

“Walking the spiral path of twists and turns is an ancient spiritual exercise.

“Often the words labyrinth and maze are used interchangeably, but they are not the same. A maze is a network of paths and dead-ends, and one has to puzzle her way out. In contrast, a labyrinth has only one way in and only one way out. The walker simply follows the path.

“Twenty years ago in San Francisco at Grace Cathedral, I walked a labyrinth on its marble floor, a replica of the famous design found at Chartres Cathedral in France. It was an exercise that gave me profound calm and unexpected answers, all from just putting one foot in front of the other.

“I discovered there is a scientific reason for why this happens. The left side of the brain, which governs rational, logical and linear actions, is often overworked. Walking a labyrinth allows that side to rest, while the right side of the brain, which is associated with non-verbal, non-rational and the intuitive, is exercised, according to “The Healing Labyrinth,” an article in Barron’s by Helen Rafael Sands in 2001. After walking a labyrinth, the two hemispheres of the brain become balanced.”

— Suzette Martinez Standring, MyZeeland

Spent last night and this morning touring 3 of the Favelas in Rio…

The movie ‘City of God‘ is right on the money.

Scaringly so.

There are no police here,

Only a Country within a Country with its own rules and self-government.

My ‘Ward Council‘ with neighbourhood Councillors is a reality here.

Gleaning fascinating insights on how Regent Park and Lawrence Heights redevelopment was completely out of touch with those most affected by big money development.

Will blog my thoughts before the Weekend’s out.

HiMY in Rio.

Labyrinth I painted two weeks ago along the Stanley Park Seawall in Vancouver . . .

“See the guy on the bench scratching his head 🙂 ”

“Solving The Puzzle“

This is one of two Labyrinths left along The Seawall surrounding Stanley Park. They are my gifts to the People and City of Vancouver before I leave for home.

This labyrinth is located three fourths the distance between the Lions Gate Bridge and Siwash Rock which you can see in the distance.

For one full month I have been here in Vancouver, first to attend the United Nations’ World Urban Forum 3 followed separately by the World Peace Forum on the campus of University of British Columbia.

Often after the day’s events, I enjoyed biking or walking the entire nine kilometer length of the path affectionately known by locals as The Seawall.

Along The Seawall are a number of half moon shaped observation points with benches facing the Pacific Ocean.

With each trip past each of those observation points, The Seawall whispers to me grew, Siren-like, to leave a labyrinth or two or three before leaving.

A few days ago, I found myself in a hardware shop along Vancouver’s famous Commercial Drive mixing tints. The colour of the paint needed had to find balance between the blue of the ocean and the green and grays of the trees and rock cliffs of Stanley Park.

Passers-by all seemed to appreciate this new addition to The Seawall.

I ran out of both paint and time for a third Labyrinth just east of the Lions Gate Bridge. Next time I’m in Vancouver, hopefully I’ll complete this trilogy of Left Coast Labyrinths.