Prismatic Trespassing

Chain-link fence is usually used to block access or claim space. It is everywhere, especially around places we’re not supposed to enter. It’s cheap, mass-produced, and loaded with authority, yet it remains see-through. This contradiction intrigues me—how can something meant to keep you out still invite you to look within. I want to collaborate with this material, not work against it. By warping its shape and cancelling out its usual purpose, I’m letting it become something new—a form that invites rather than excludes. The sections chosen for this installation have been bent, cut, and distorted, then reassembled to build an archway: an opening instead of a barrier.

I am drawn to the ways people interact with urban features found in Kjipuktuk, especially how they ignore or resist them. Within cities, pedestrians often take “desire paths,” carving out unofficial shortcuts through grass, dirt, or even fences. It’s instinctual. No matter how tightly designed the infrastructure, people tend to make their own route.

Carrying the weight of privatization, the fence holds a tension between control and freedom, movement and restriction. This piece is as much about reclaiming space as it is about honouring those small acts of resistance that shape our cities in quiet ways.

This artwork would not have been possible without the support of the NOCTURNE team as well as my collaborator and partner Lili Maud Dobell who helps me express myself in numerous ways. Special thanks to William Baker who assisted me in storing and assembling this piece for this community to enjoy. Without them this artwork could not have come to be… Bonne nuit d’art!