Public Art at South Common Community Centre and Library
The City's public art program contributes vibrancy, colour, and character to public spaces in Mississauga. Through a formal selection process, the City commissions professional artists to create art that is free and accessible for all to enjoy.
As part of the City's redevelopment of South Common Community Centre and Library, the City is commissioning an artist or artist team to create a hanging indoor sculpture for the library, that reflects community life and environment.
Your input matters
Five artists and artist teams were shortlisted by an arms-length art selection committee and invited to develop proposals. We looked to Mississauga residents to help the art selection committee choose the winning design. The survey is now closed.
The City is pleased to announce that Dennis Lin's proposal Somewhere Behind Our Eyes was selected by the art selection committee, following a comprehensive review of the proposal and a review of residents' feedback. Learn more here
Stay updated
Visit mississauga.ca/publicart for more information about this project and other upcoming public art projects in Mississauga.
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Selection Results: Somewhere Behind Our Eyes
The City's public art program is pleased to announce that Dennis Lin's proposed artwork Somewhere Behind Our Eyes has been commissioned for South Common Community Centre and Library.
A comprehensive review by an arms-length art selection committee consisting of arts professionals, architects, and local community members included the committee's review of residents' feedback, along with factors related to technical feasibility and sustainability.
Learn more about the artwork:
Somewhere Behind Our Eyes
This suspended sculpture is a deeply community-driven work, built from objects donated by the people of Mississauga—items carrying personal, cultural, and historical significance. As a visible minority and the child of immigrant parents, I understand the weight of holding onto objects, not just for their function, but for the histories, emotions, and sense of belonging they embody. For the South Common Community Centre, I am proposing a suspended constellation—a mobile sculpture composed of objects from Mississauga residents, each carrying a piece of someone’s story, someone’s history.
Books, cultural artifacts, religious items, fabrics, and other meaningful pieces will be curated through community workshops and collection events. The objects will be held in bronze dishes, displayed on flat bronze plates, placed under bell jars, or suspended individually. Some of the shallow bronze dishes will hold cascading fronds of bronze or acrylic, forming a kind of hanging garden of objects. This project will incorporate salvaged bronze and acrylic, along with natural elements such as stone and wood sourced from the surrounding area. The result will be an environmentally conscious work that reinforces the connection between Mississauga’s built and natural landscapes.
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Note on intellectual property: all artwork presented here remains the intellectual property of its creator.
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Proposal Review
Five artists and artist teams were shortlisted by an arms-length art selection committee and invited to develop proposals. We looked to Mississauga residents to help the art selection committee choose the winning design.
Although the survey is now closed, the five shortlisted proposals are presented here.
Intellectual property: all artwork presented here remains the intellectual property of its creator.
Somewhere Behind Our Eyes
Artist: Dennis Lin
This suspended sculpture is a deeply community-driven work, built from objects donated by the people of Mississauga - items carrying personal, cultural, and historical significance. As a visible minority and the child of immigrant parents, I understand the weight of holding onto objects, not just for their function, but for the histories, emotions, and sense of belonging they embody… Continue reading
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The Colour of Memory
Artists: Coryn Kempster and Julia Jamrozik
Imagine a cloud of memories floating up to the ceiling of the library. As they rise, they crystalize into the form of the many colours associated with them. Slowly they come together, gently rotating around one another to form a column of colours, the colours of memory. Watch the video
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Watch the video (link opens in a new tab)
Wave of Current
Artist: Xiaojing Yan
Wave of Current is a hanging artwork made from recycled ocean plastic ropes, gently flowing above the atrium of the South Common Community Centre and Library. Inspired by Mississauga’s Credit River, the ropes are braided into spirals and arranged into soft waves, in calming shades of blue and green… Continue reading
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Cloud Tree
Artists: Ixchel Suarez and Richard Watts
Cloud Tree is a suspended installation that symbolizes the interconnectedness of global cultures through the universal significance of trees. Inspired by the concept of a "World Tree" or "Global Family Tree," the piece is composed of translucent tree rings sourced from fallen Ontario trees, each engraved with the names of trees from participants' home countries in their native languages.… Continue reading
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Connection to Nature
Artist: Matthew Mazzotta
Connection to Nature is a new interactive and participatory public artwork for the Mississauga library. The sculpture is composed of an illuminated cloud hung from the ceiling connected to a bright pink bench on the ground plane with two bright pink ropes providing the image of a swing hanging from a cloud...Continue reading
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