Re-Imaging an Urban Waterfront Park

Brook McIlroy’s THUNDER BAY IOD PARK responds to the City of Thunder Bay’s recently initiated project of converting its industrial waterfront into public trails, parks and villages. This era of transformation – predicated on embracing the waterfront as an amenity – has also seen the removal of some of its heroic industrial legacy embodied in the massive structures that line the shores of Lake Superior.
Imagine a new and inviting waterfront park through photography, video and light. Nodding to the iron ore dock’s overwhelming and magnificent size, the exhibit’s main photographic montage measures over sixteen feet long and seven feet tall. The artistic interpretation depicts the PARK as a year-round destination, transitioning through the four seasons as viewers move from left to right along the length of the installation. Accompanying the montage is a seventeen-piece photography exhibit, documenting the structure in its current as well as original, historical state. Together the montage and photographs illustrate both what exists now and what could exist.
Thunder Bay Art Gallery - October 1 – November 7, 2010 * www.Theag.ca