Permanent installation at 620 Beatty Street

It was a dreary day. Rain pelted down from a low, grey sky, drenching the concrete buildings and sidewalks and amplifying my bleak mood. The morning news had reported another suicide-bomb attack in Pakistan and the proposed deployment of more U.S. troops to Afghanistan. As I walked past the British Columbia Regiment Drill Hall on Beatty Street, the old cannons and armoured tanks, set there as monuments, looked small and futile. No war has ended all wars.

In the pedestrian mews adjacent to the drill hall, and overlooking a cluster of new condominium towers, is Writing to You. This recently installed public artwork, created by Toronto artists Yvonne Lammerich and Ian Carr-Harris, stands on a long rectangle of green lawn lined by paved pathways, wooden benches, and plots of fine grey gravel. Consisting of two major sculptural components separated by an expanse of lawn, the work was inspired by a World War II correspondence between a British Columbia Regiment officer stationed in Europe and his wife in Canada. The bronze military trunk, with lantern, at the west end of the installation and the bronze table at the east end are each surmounted by a couple of pages of sheet-metal “letters”, as if opened and read there by their recipients. The messages contain bits of news, and express affection, loneliness, longing, and anxiety.

Given the drill-hall location, this is an appropriately respectful and understated work—not brilliantly illuminating, but thoughtful and well executed. It doesn’t address the horrific losses of battle, the enormous costs in human life; instead, it focuses on the daily experiences of those separated by war, and the unspoken anticipation of death.

Still, there are problems with the site. The day I visited, the soggy lawn was littered with garbage: soft-drink cups, cigarette butts, plastic bags, the smashed remains of a boom box, and melting piles of rain-soaked dog shit. Walking across this fetid swamp to read the laser-cut, backlit letters was hardly salutary. Perhaps we’re not meant to view the work up close, although I can’t see how that can be true, given that the text is meaningful to the overall theme.

The architects of this minimalist site might object, but viewers need clean, dry access to Writing to You. And local residents need to pick up after their pets.