Newmarket and Georgina take part in global yarn-bombing projects to raise awareness of deafblindness

Art installations are 'connecting the world one stitch at a time,' deafblind official says

Yorkregion.com
June 6, 2022
Lisa Queen

Newmarket and Georgina are part of a month-long international yarn-bombing initiative to raise awareness about deafblindness.

More than one per cent of Canada’s population is deafblind, which is severe impairment of both sight and hearing.

Residents can see the art installations of knitted and crocheted squares stitched together at Newmarket’s Fairy Lake pedestrian bridge and Georgina’s Jackson’s Point Parkette at 21093 Dalton Rd. throughout June.

“We’re really viewing it as we’re connecting the world one stitch at a time. As each individual square is stitched together, it’s really coming together as that broader deafblind awareness around the world,” Sam Marren, senior coordinator of communications at DeafBlind Ontario Services, said at the Newmarket unveiling June 2.

“Something that is notable about yarn bombing is that it’s a very tactile form of art. You can really see on some of the squares, there’s flowers, there’s some animals. You see soft yarn and various stitches create different feeling. For someone with deafblindness, that sense of touch is very important.”

Newmarket and Georgina are two of eight deafblind yarn-bombing art installations in Ontario and among more than 70 regions around the world taking part, Marren said.

The squares were made by people with deafblindness, intervenors (who acts as their eyes and ears) and community members.

There are more than 1,000 squares on the Newmarket art installation.

Newmarket councillors Bob Kwapis, Victor Woodhouse and Grace Simon attended the Newmarket event.

“Yarn bombing is sometimes known as kni-fiti, which is a combination of knitting and graffiti. It’s a form of street art where yarn is wrapped on an object as a public service in a public space,” Kwapis said.

He noted that June marks the birth month of Helen Keller, born in 1880, whose story was made famous in the book The Miracle Worker.

Woodhouse said the yarn-bombing is important to raise awareness.

“I think for many of us in this era, it’s a matter of understanding what other people are going through. We all have troubles, we all have problems, often minor compared to those that live with disabilities or live with other significant issues day by day,” he said.

For more information, visit deafblindontario.com.