TRAIL COMMUTERS
LOCATION
MISSISSAUGA
YEAR
2024
TYPE
PUBLIC ART
CLIENT
CITY OF MISSISSAUGA
PHOTOGRAPHY
ANDRES ULISES BAUTISTA
As Mississauga continues to grow at an urban scale, there is even a more pressing need for a green form of transportation. Our proposal illustrates and promotes alternative commuting methods and breaking daily driving habits. The installation shows the figures migrating from one side to another. The shadows of the figures create a second environment, mirroring the movement. By illustrating the commuter and their commuting method as one, the artwork will promote Meadowvale’s growing green infrastructure.
Flann O’Brien’s The Third Policeman (1940) is one of our initial literary precedents for the transportation art installation. The novel is about people evolving into live bicycles – half-human and half-bicycles. Flann explains that as we bike, our personalities start to mix with the personalities of the bicycle – “the interchanging of the atoms” (O’Brien, 75). It is incredible how the novel still rings true to this day about the human relation with not only bicycles, but other forms of commuting methods such
as scooters, wheelchairs, and ambulation; you eventually become dependent on it as a primary means of transportation, especially if your city is encouraging this form by creating multiple safe trails and
bikeways.
