City to mark 100th anniversary of Halifax Explosion with series of sculptures

Just over three metres high, a total of 12 sculptures are planned for nine locations significant to the story of the massive explosion that levelled much of Halifax's north end in 1917.

Thestar.com
Aug. 24, 2017
By The Canadian Press

A series of commemorative steel sculptures are to be erected across the Halifax area, as the city marks the 100th anniversary of the massive explosion that levelled much of its north end and killed nearly 2,000 people

Just over three metres high, a total of 12 sculptures are planned for nine locations significant to the story of what occurred when a French munitions ship collided with a Belgian relief ship in the narrows of Halifax harbour on Dec. 6, 1917.

The maritime disaster, simply known as the Halifax Explosion, was the worst man-made disaster in Canadian history.

"While the Halifax Explosion was a mass destruction, each of these stories and areas carried with it their own response," Elizabeth Taylor, manager of culture and events for Halifax's Parks and Recreation, told Global News.

"We're looking forward to telling each of them."

The city has posted tenders for the markers, which will incorporate English, French and Mi'kmaq text along with a Mi'kmaq petroglyph.

Each will tell a story about what happened at that spot.

Rayleen Hill of RHAD Architects, the firm that designed the markers, said the design is meant to blend with any location they are placed in, whether it be a park or a city street.

"We proposed this idea of them loosely, abstractly looking like exploded trees, so that they would be very tall and linear," said Hill. "And we were hoping too that if we did something like that, it would be distinctive."

Each marker will be made of a pair of metal beams, intended to capture Halifax's past and its present.

"We have designed them in such a way that they kind of have human proportions and we have tilted and bent them in a way so that they look like two people having a conversation," Hill said.

She said one half of each pair would be cut in corten steel - an alloy that gives the appearance of rusted metal - that will contain a laser cut interpretive section explaining what happened on the site of the installation.

The second half is polished stainless steel that will have 100 perforations that will allow light through the metal, representative of the lives lost as well as the 100th anniversary of the explosion.

"It's supposed to be representative of Halifax now, and Halifax kind of looking and being reflective of the past," said Hill. "Also somebody who is coming up to approach it will be able to see their own reflection in that sculpture."

The first markers are supposed to be erected in November, while the remaining installations are scheduled to be in place by March 2018.

Plans call for three of the installations in Fort Needham Park and then one each at the Richmond courthouse, the intersection of Devonshire Avenue and Vincent Street, the intersection of Ahern Avenue and Bell Road, the Halifax Armoury, the intersection of Bayers Road and Barnstead Lane, one at DeWolfe Park, one at Dartmouth Ferry Terminal Park and one at Dartmouth Common.