to walk these halls
Holland-Bloorview Kid’s Rehab, 2006. Toronto, Ontario.
To walk these halls is a series of louvres on four storeys of a multi-storey residential and outpatient rehabilitation centre for kids, often with severe mobility, cognitive or related challenges. Four colours, each for a different floor, complement the golden cursive writing.
Each ‘frieze’ is designed to be seen from the vantage point of the kids’ various mobility devices. Each hallway joins the therapy zones to the residences.
Outside at the place where the kids arrive by a special bus that accommodates their wheeled mobility devices, there’s a transparent glass canopy. They can look up and see the outlines of their peers, which I traced when they were lying on the floor, pretending they could fly.
The glass louvers, which together form something akin to a frieze, each present a line of a poem I wrote for the commission.
to walk these halls
to wheel to pull
to drag to glide
to cross this passage
to make this voyage
this day
this place
this spirit
this life
to walk
these halls