Lesser-known Glories

Ontario Summer Games Banners
(June 2022) - Digital Vinyl Banners

Mississauga’s Youth Poet Laureate, Qurat Dar and I collaborated on a temporary public art project that engages visual artists and raises awareness of the literary arts in Mississauga. For this project, we created a poetry-inspired public artwork in celebration of youth athleticism for the Ontario Summer Games. Qurat Dar created the poem, "Lesser-known glories", and I created 4 banners inspired by the poem.

Lesser-known glories by Qurat Dar
 
learning to dance in thrift store skates
shooting hoops that have long lost their nets
the privilege of movement
every kid who was chosen last in gym class
and still got up and tried,
held the ball a few precious seconds in between
all the popular kids passing to each other
the coaches that believed in us before we did
the teammates and rivals that dared us to be better
parents whose faces were a sanctuary in the crowd
who woke up early to drive us to practice, more nervous
for our games than we were
knowing which limits to push past and which to honour
all the ways our sport changes us, a song of
sweat, callus, tendon and muscle
the failures that taught us humility
the strength and fragility of the human body
the sacrifices that come with dedication
all the ways our sport heals us
gives us a reason to keep moving forward
now,
more than ever.