{"id":296,"date":"2012-06-18T19:10:52","date_gmt":"2012-06-18T19:10:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/blog\/?page_id=296"},"modified":"2012-06-22T18:56:27","modified_gmt":"2012-06-22T18:56:27","slug":"public-art-monument-against-poverty","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/?page_id=296","title":{"rendered":"Activist Monument Against Poverty"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><strong>Dorothy O&#8217;Connell Monument to Anti-Poverty Activism<\/strong>.<br \/>\nSouth lawn, Ottawa City Hall, Ontario.<\/h4>\n<h4><div class=\"flagallery phantom_skin\" id=\"FlaGallery_sc1_20\" style='width:800;'><style type=\"text\/css\" class=\"flagallery_skin_style_import\">#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_ThumbContainer {width:200px; height:180px;}#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_MobileView .flagPhantom_ThumbContainer {width:150px; height:135px;}#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_Container {margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;}#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_ThumbContainer 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.flagPhantom_LabelHover .flagPhantom_ThumbLabel a,#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_LabelInside .flagPhantom_ThumbLabel a:hover,#FlaGallery_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_LabelHover .flagPhantom_ThumbLabel a:hover {color:#e7e179;}<\/style> <div class=\"flagPhantom_Container noLightbox\" style=\"opacity:0\"> <h3>Dorothy O&#039;Connell Monument to Anti-Poverty Activism<\/h3> <div class=\"flagPhantom_thumbsWrapper flagPhantom_ThumbScale flagPhantom_LabelHover\"> <div class=\"flagPhantom_ThumbContainer flagPhantom_ThumbLoader\" data-id=\"164\" data-ratio=\"1.4732965009208\" data-title=\"\" data-views=\"611\" data-likes=\"0\"> <a href=\"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/blog\/wp-content\/flagallery\/dorothy-o039connel-monument-to-anti-poverty-activism\/webview\/d-oconnell_antipoverty_activists_monument1_cjfleury.jpg\" class=\"flagPhantom_Thumb\"><img 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.mfp-arrow-right:after,\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-arrow-right .mfp-a {border-left-color:#ffffff;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-arrow-left:after,\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-arrow-left .mfp-a {border-right-color:#ffffff;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-close,\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-likes,\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-share {color:#ffffff;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-preloader {background-color:#ffffff;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_title,\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .mfp-counter {color:#f3f3f3;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20 .flagPhantom_text {color:#f3f3f3;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20_bg.mfp-bg {background-color:#0b0b0b;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20_bg.mfp-bg {opacity:0.8;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20_bg.mfp-zoom-in.mfp-bg {opacity:0}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20_bg.mfp-zoom-in.mfp-ready.mfp-bg {opacity:0.8;}\\r\\n#mfp_gm_sc1_20_bg.mfp-zoom-in.mfp-removing.mfp-bg {opacity:0}\"}; jQuery('#FlaGallery_sc1_20').flagPhantom([settings]); }); <\/script><\/div><\/h4>\n<h4>After years of discussion a group of anti-poverty activists, many impoverished, labor people and other citizens made the decision to erect a monument to honor the anti-poverty work of Dorothy O&#8217;Connell.\u00a0 The artist was selected on the basis of her approach to collaborating with non-arts groups and the committee&#8217;s desire for her new work to acquire similar public recognition as a previous piece in Minto Park: the &#8220;Women\u2019s Monument Against Violence\u201d.\u00a0 Over the years, that monument had become a well-known Ottawa site for public and private rituals and as a rallying point for activist events (Dec 6th, Canada&#8217;s &#8220;National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women&#8221;, annual &#8220;Take Back the Night&#8221; marches and earlier events against poverty and violence).<\/h4>\n<h4>The artist and monument group worked together to find the right location and to navigate through Ottawa City Council for permission to create a piece that would publicly acknowledge the fight against poverty in Ottawa (Canada&#8217;s capital city), Ontario and beyond.<\/h4>\n<h4>Dorothy O&#8217;Connell and all the members of the group supported the &#8220;bread with missing house&#8221; concept, as it brought basic issues like food and shelter to the foreground and expressed a constant struggle that poor people face &#8211; &#8220;feed the kids or pay the rent&#8221;.\u00a0 Anti-Poverty activism, an intimidating issue, was made approachable through this portrayal and gave dignity to the impoverished;\u00a0 they have stated their great pride in the monument and feel a sense of ownership and visibility.<\/h4>\n<h4>The somewhat humorous forms invite viewers into close proximity to discover and contemplate the monument&#8217;s deeper meaning at their own pace.\u00a0 Having initially envisioned a simple \u201cspeaker\u2019s podium\u201d, the monument group fund-raised to bring the larger monument to life, after starting to work with the artist.\u00a0 The final concept yielded both: the empty \u201chouse-shape\u201d of the large bread became the speaker&#8217;s podium and the podium doubled as a bench for staying a bit, within the monument&#8217;s circular plaza.<\/h4>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">The interior walls of this hollow house bear the words often stated by Ms O&#8217;Connell:<br \/>\nPOVERTY STOPS EQUALITY<br \/>\nEQUALITY STOPS POVERTY<\/h4>\n<h4>Dorothy O&#8217;Connell is a widely respected, anti-poverty activist and playwright in Ottawa, often referred to as a poet laureate of the poor.<br \/>\nThe monument was unveiled Oct. 17, 2004 on the United Nations&#8217; International Day for the Eradication of Poverty.<\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dorothy O&#8217;Connell Monument to Anti-Poverty Activism. South lawn, Ottawa City Hall, Ontario. After years of discussion a group of anti-poverty activists, many impoverished, labor people and other citizens made the decision to erect a monument to honor the anti-poverty work &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/?page_id=296\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":74,"menu_order":8,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"onecolumn-page.php","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=296"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439,"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/296\/revisions\/439"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/74"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cjfleuryart.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=296"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}