Created as part of the City of Winnipeg’s Waverley Underpass Project, OUTCROPPINGS is an aluminum landscape sculpture by artist Jyhling Lee. She was inspired by the region’s geologic and cultural history to create projective sculptural forms as an acknowledgment of the mineral abundance and heritage of this land. The series of sculptural outcroppings are installed along the sloped greenspace to the south of the new underpass and east of the Active Transportation pathway, acting as a gateway between the neighbourhoods of River Heights and Linden Woods.
The artwork is intended to be experienced as a discovery emerging from the land, elemental in geometry and shaped like mythical Ordovician clams. The sculpture suggests outcroppings of a new type of mineral inspired by the ancient fossil impressions we see in locally-sourced Tyndall stone today. This land, like the people who have travelled and lived on it, has experienced diversity in its people and foundation. This land has been transformed through an ever-changing landscape of Precambrian rock, glaciers, tallgrass prairie, farmland, urban growth, and now a roadway leading to many places. OUTCROPPINGS conceives of the continuing history of southern Manitoba through physical strata; a story of continual movement and changing of the land.
These sculptural forms, spanning a length of approximately 50 metres, have been envisaged at a scale of experience and presence for those driving on the roadway as well as for pedestrians and cyclists moving along the pathway. The large sculptural elements are visible from a distance and act as a gateway landmark, lighting up at night to signal the new Waverley Underpass site.
“From having lived in the prairies, I feel a strong connection to this region’s landscape, skies, light, and climate. For me, the physical and cultural richness, power, and imagination derived from this land are strong forces at play in the creation of this artwork.” -Jyhling Lee, Figureground Studio
Commissioned by the Winnipeg Arts Council through the Public Art Program, this work was funded through the Waverley Underpass Project with additional support from Councillor John Orlikow through the Land Dedication Reserve Fund.
In the media:
- FreePress Community Review, posted January 21, 2022: Underpass lit up with new public art display
