Drifting

‘Drifting’ is an exhibition about designing for healing in public space. It presents speculative architectural models, illustrated diagrams of an Urban Healing Space Framework, street-level snapshots from Hong Kong open spaces, and oral histories with photo markups reflecting land-based practices learned from Indigenous communities, braided through a Two-Eyed Seeing lens.

The project asks how urban wellbeing and land-based healing can work together to guide Toronto toward a trauma-informed city—aligning with SafeTO’s 2022–2032 roadmap and the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action 93–94 on newcomer awareness and responsibility. It also responds to recent Hong Kong migration, inviting shared storytelling as a way to build ties between newcomers and Indigenous Peoples.

Public Programs

Mourning-circle–inspired café gathering — a facilitated space to reflect on “drifting,” loss of land connection, and the long wait for cultural resurgence in communal space.

Coffee-cupping-inspired guided model reading — a hands-on session to name and imagine spatial ambience and qualities that support wellbeing, re-centering care in future participatory public space planning.

The date and time for the programs are currently TBC – RSVP link will be released soon

Visitors will leave with a shared vocabulary for healing space, a sense of how urban and land-based practices can meet, and practical prompts for imagining public open space as a site of relation, care, and reconciliation.