We Are Atmosphere

Part of Seeds to Sow in Barrie, Ontario (Canada), We Are Atmosphere is an installation of steel signs in the shallows of Kempenfelt Bay that explore the atmospheric nature of being in and of the world. Fragments of poetic text can be found just beyond the shore’s edge, dispersed across three sites. These small poems offer ideas about how we live in relationship with and through the atmosphere. The open shapes of the cut steel letters pull the ever-changing lake and sky into the work, allowing the actual atmosphere to become as much part of the work as the signs themselves. Each sign can be read in multiple different ways, subtly shifting as the conditions around it ebb and flow.

Viewers are invited to take time to reflect on the essential and life sustaining role of the atmosphere and the often fraught awareness that comes with the rising levels of atmospheric carbon dioxide as a significant factor in the escalating nature of climate change. The atmosphere is something that is vital, always in movement and always something collective. It is part of us, and we are a part of it.