MISSISSAUGA: WAR Flowers: A Touring Art Exhibition opened at the Living Arts Centre in Mississauga on September 17.
The unique and historically-based exhibit offers visitors a unique way to experience the art of Canada’s rich history, ensuring the memories of those who served a century ago live on for years to come.
Presented by the Museums of Mississauga the exhibition runs until December 13. During the First World War, Canadian soldier LieutenantColonel George Stephen Cantlie plucked flowers from the fields of war-torn Europe, sending them home to his baby daughter Celia
in Montreal.
Artist Viveka Melki presents 10 of these century-old flowers in an exhibition that examines human nature in wartime.
Using floriography–the Victorian language of flowers–Melki has created an immersive, multisensory experience featuring Cantlie’s letters, specially-commissioned optical crystal sculptures, and original flower-based scents, interwoven with the personal stories of 10 Canadians directly involved in the war.
“I examine these century-old flowers using floriography, a method of communicating emotion through flowers, to tell the story of human nature in the landscape of war,” said Viveka Melki.
The Optical crystal sculptures created by Mark Raynes Roberts portray scenes that illustrate different aspects of human nature while scents developed by Alexandra Bachand evoke personal memory.
The Museums of Mississauga is also presenting a local connection to the First World War through the Bradley Museum’s exhibit, Our Boys: Mississauga’s Fallen Soldiers 1914-1918 as well as a Speaker’s Series that focuses on the stories of soldiers from Black and Indigenous communities.
“I believe people have an ability to find beauty and hope, even amidst the horrors of war. This exhibition examines human nature in wartime through a series of artistic representations, multisensory experiences, and portraits of ten Canadians who were involved in the First World War,” Meiki added.