Tapestry of Hope
A STEPS PROJECT
As part of the 2022 CreateSpace Public Art Residency, Jeni Chen created an audio installation, collaborative artwork, and an accompanying activity booklet that encourages participants to examine their inner voices and pivot towards positive thought patterns.
Project at a Glance
Location: Richmond Cultural Centre Plaza, Richmond, BC
Artist(s): Jeni Chen
Year: 2022
Project Photographer/Videographer: Jeni Chen, Tat Wah Tam
Services: Artist Capacity Building
1
artist-in-residence
100+
participant audio recordings
4
artist mentors
15
languages
2
days of activities
200+
ribbons
About This Project
For the BC Culture Days Festival Weekend, 2022 CreateSpace artist-in-residence Jeni Chen invited participants to experience her immersive installation and add their voices to the exhibition. Collaborative from start to finish, the project called on contributors to record audio clips expressing their fears and worries, which played on a loop in Jeni’s public art installation to mimic stressful thoughts running through our minds.
Viewers walked through the installation, then out into the sunlight and open space of the site’s natural surroundings. There, they wrote down their wishes, dreams, or feelings that they hoped to manifest on ribbons, which were tied to a row of “wishing trees” and later woven into the “Tapestry of Hope”. Learn more about Jeni’s residency journey through her website/blog where she documented her process!
“The idea was to create an art installation where people can experience a changing perspective.”
– Jeni Chen, Artist-in-Residence
“This would not have been possible without everyone’s engagement and involvement.”
– Jeni Chen, Artist-in-Residence
STEPS Public Art App
Explore Jeni’s public art activation virtually through the STEPS Public Art App, a free mobile and web application with an interactive map of STEPS projects, self-guided walking tours and artist profiles. This app is updated regularly with new photos, videos and projects to help you explore your city and virtually visit public art projects in other cities!
About the Artist
Jeni Chen
Artist-in-Residence
Jeni Chen is a Taiwanese-Canadian artist based in Richmond, BC. She has experience creating public artworks and leading community-engaged workshops. In 2021, she was chosen as a BC Culture Days Ambassador. With her background in science, Jeni was awarded an Artists in the Classroom grant to introduce the immune system to elementary school students through different art forms. Jeni has also written and illustrated a children’s picture book Emet’s Box (The Little Press, 2022) and was selected as a touring presenter for the 2023 Canadian Children’s Book Week. For fun, Jeni draws a webcomic series about family life with her elementary-school-aged son.
Project Partners and Funders
This project is part of the STEPS CreateSpace Public Art Residency in collaboration with BC Culture Days and Richmond Art Gallery.
The CreateSpace Residency is supported by the City of Toronto as part of ArtworxTO: Toronto’s Year of Public Art 2021 – 2022, TD Bank Group through the TD Ready Commitment, Canada Council for the Arts, and Ontario Arts Council. We also acknowledge the support of the Canadian Race Relations Foundation with funding provided by the Government of Canada.
STEPS believes that public art should reflect the diverse identities and perspectives of the communities that host it. Artists have a critical role to play in shaping cities, and our Artist Capacity Building Programs are designed to amplify the work of Black, Indigenous, Persons of Colour, female, LGBTTQQIAAP and newcomer artists in public spaces.