Team OnCommon Ground
Images of the design concept
Team members
- bbb architects Ottawa Inc.
- PWP Landscape Architects
- WSP Engineering
- with visual artists Nadia Myre, Udo Schliemann and Robert Lepage and LGBT Purge survivors Nicole Crevier and Trudi Fontaine of WSP
Design intent
This Monument is meant to be felt, not observed. On approach, it presents visitors with an overwhelming wall of concrete, representing the authority of the government’s oppression on its’ own people through the LGTB Purge. A small portal grants access to the Monument space. Passage through the portal presents visitors with visceral reminders of the pain of 2SLGBTQI+ discrimination: the interrogations of the Purge. Exiting the portal provides relief: A canopy of white pines shelters ‘Imprinted’, a sculpture that embodies the simple truth that Love is Love. It is set against the backdrop of a porcelain wall inscribed with the government’s entire apology to 2SLGBTQI+ Canadians. The sanctum also contains a healing garden for contemplation, and a gathering place for PRIDE celebrations. The clearing is bounded by the inside of the authority wall, which has been transformed with 9000 points of light, one for each of the LGTB Purge survivors.
Transcript of the 2SLGBTQI+ National Monument Team OnCommon Ground’s video
Video length: 1:30 minutes
The visual elements are animated renderings, video images, news clippings.
There narrator is Robert Lepage.
[Text on screen: Monument national LGBTQ2+ National Monument, OnCommon Ground]
[Animated black background with lighter shadow effect]
[Soft music playing]
Narrator’s voice: “The Stories of LGBTQ2+ people in Canada have been silenced for too long”
[Animated rendering of the monument site in the rain, without any monument or landscape elements]
Narrator’s voice: “Exposing the Purge will end this silence”
[Animated rendering of the monument site in the rain, now showing tall pines, benches and a plaza]
Narrator’s voice: “Reseeding the unceded lands of the Algonquin People”
[Animated rendering of the monument site in the rain, now showing a long etched wall with an opening. The wall partly hides the tall pines and other monument elements]
Narrator’s voice: “Our Monument is anchored as a spiritual space of tall pine trees and sheltering canopy”
[Animated rendering of a close-up of the opening on the monument wall, showing introductory interpretive text]
Narrator’s voice: “Our vision, like a haiku, opens with an Authority Wall, an oppressed humanity”
[Ominous music playing]
[Text on screen: The Wall’s voice is dark]
[Animated video showing someone being interrogated, historic news clippings of arrests, protest. Text on screen reads “9000 LGBTQ2+ people purged from RCMP, military and civil service]
[Animated close-up of someone in an interrogation room]
Narrator’s voice: “The stories of the LGBT Purge survivors are difficult to hear but we must hear them”
[Text on screen: Settlers to Canada brought rigid gender norms that saw the near-destruction of Indigenous two-spirit identities]
[Text on screen: Daylight holds a warm embrace]
[Animated rendering of an interior view of the monument space showing the tall pines, a sculpture of two forms embracing, an wall etched with text and a reflective pool]
Narrator’s voice: “Bald heads, encircled arms and naked bodies, so close that their hands are imprinted in each other’s backs. Male, female, both, neither – it does not matter. Love is love.”
[Text on screen, translated from French: We are sorry]
[Animated rendering of an interior view of the monument space showing the tall pines, grassy areas, a wall etched with text, interpretive elements and the sculpture in the background]
Narrator’s voice: “We need space for healing. A grid of trees with aisles of sweetgrass. The stelas stand to offer personal stories of Purge survivors and two-spirited people”
[Animated rendering of an interior view of the monument space showing the wall with 9000 points of light]
Narrators’ voice: “9000 points of light for each survivor change a quiet day to a full spectral evening of Pride”
[Animated rendering of an interior view of the monument at night showing the illuminated wall, performers, an audience and fireworks]
[Animated rendering of a close up of the sculpture and of the wall etched with text]
Narrator’s voice: “This Monument is meant to be felt, not observed. It uses textures, sounds, darkness, and daylight to tell stories.”
Text on screen: [OnCommon Ground
bbb architects/PWP, WSP and a collection of artists
Concept Review + Video Narration
Robert Lepage]
Narrator’s voice: “This is OnCommon Ground”
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