Artistic defiance at West Island

The Trees Have Spoken is an environmental art intervention on behalf of the trees of Ontario Place. Hundreds of fallen autumn leaves from the West Island of Ontario Place were collected in late October, early November, cut into heart shapes and pressed in books before being sewn together with red and green cotton thread in sets of strings.

The public statement of the trees ’Leaf me be’ was added to many of the leaves with a manual typewriter.
Eleven strings in nine locations, each consisting of 30-45 leaves were installed on December 15, 2023 among the trees on the West Island of Ontario Place as an act of defiance.

It is only by respecting nature that we begin to stop harming ourselves.
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 Artist Staement by Martin Reis & Richelle Forsey