Specially commissioned art installation on Kipnes Lantern offers vibrant colours to promote wellness and hope during difficult holiday season

December 15, 2020 – OTTAWA, CANADA – The National Arts Centre will display the specially commissioned art installation Colour, Health, Hope by the acclaimed multidisciplinary artist Jacquie Comrie on its digital and social media platforms, and on the NAC’s Kipnes Lantern — the largest translucent LED screen in North America –– during the holiday season. Centred on colours, their associated attributes and effects on well-being, the vibrant, visually powerful installation was created as a much-needed tool for wellness and hope.

“With a surge of COVID-19 cases across the globe, and cities back on lockdown, this holiday season will be an incredibly challenging, isolating time for many of us,” Ms. Comrie said. “We continue to experience loss, grief, isolation, racial injustice and uncertainty of the future, while also finding ourselves at the wake of a new light of consciousness. Colour, Health, Hope speaks of regeneration and the power of resilience through a year of deep challenges. This work will transform the Kipnes Lantern into a space for light, positive energy, hope, mental reset, elevation, and visual therapy for everyone.”

Originally from Panama and now based in Toronto, Jacquie Comrie is a multidisciplinary artist whose work intersects contemporary art and wellness at a global scale, using colour as a medium of social impact and mental health. Whether as murals on buildings, large scale structures (such as Toronto streetcars) or canvases, her body of work explores colour as the universal language of human emotion. Her art has been commissioned by galleries and organizations nationally and internationally.

Viewers can experience Colour, Health, Hope on a number of platforms. In the Nation’s Capital, it will be displayed on the NAC’s Kipnes Lantern throughout the holidays, and into the winter. The installation will be featured on the NAC’s website and shared on social media channels for everyone to enjoy. The artwork will also be displayed periodically over the course of 2021.

“We are honoured to showcase this beautiful artwork by Jacquie Comrie,” said NAC President and CEO Christopher Deacon. “Its message of resilience, hope, and the centrality of mental health to our well- being, echoes the performing arts’ power to inspire and heal.  We hope Jacquie Comrie’s work will bring comfort during this difficult holiday season, as it invites us all to look forward to a brighter, more colourful 2021.”

COLOUR, HEALTH, HOPE

Colour, Health, Hope features eight unique creations, each of which centres on a particular colour, its associated attributes, and effects on well-being:

Pink
Playfulness, compassion, brings joy and warmth. Calms and nurtures intuition.
Effects on the body: increases energy, pulse. Can also bring peace, relaxation and comfort.

Red
Power, action, passion, energy, strength. 
Effects on the body: increases energy, attention, motivates, encourages and stimulates the mind. 

Orange
Warmth, youth, optimism, positivity, enthusiasm, joy.
Effects on the body: provides emotional strength, encourages creativity, uplifts and stimulates the mind.

Yellow
Happiness, optimism, positivity, intellect, enthusiasm, joy. Boosts creativity and curiosity.
Effects on the body: encourages communication, stimulates the nervous system, helps with memory and concentration.

Green
Harmony, balance, health, growth, safety, nature.
Effects on the body: revitalizes, provides mental and physical relaxation, encourages, brings peace.

Turquoise
Calmness, peace, positive mental energy. Clarity, cooling.
Effects on the body: clear thought and increased concentration, calms and recharges energy, calms the mind.

Blue
Peace, security, protection, loyalty, protection.
Effects on the body: relaxes, brings calmness and relaxation to body and mind.

Purple
Spirituality, wisdom, enlightenment, creativity, imagination.
Effects on the body: inspires, uplifts, encourages and calms the mind, raises and stimulates mood, provides a sense of spirituality, encourages creativity.

ABOUT JACQUIE COMRIE

Jacquie Comrie is a Toronto-based multidisciplinary artist whose vibrant body of work intersects contemporary art and wellness at a global scale, using colour as a medium of social impact and mental health. Whether as murals on buildings, large scale structures, or canvases, her body of work is a dynamic exploration of the science of colour as the universal language of human emotion. Colour has been proven to have a direct effect on emotions, for which her palettes are consciously designed and orchestrated, aiming to cater to mental well-being at large. In such divisive times, and with mental health issues on the rise across the globe, her work aims to contribute to much-needed spaces of mental elevation and reset, to ultimately help improve quality of life of all individuals, one wall at a time.

ABOUT THE KIPNES LANTERN

The Kipnes Lantern is the largest translucent LED screen in North America. The Lantern displays moving imagery of artistic programming at the NAC and by arts organizations from across the country. The Lantern regularly showcases works by renowned Canadian visual artists, including Germaine Arnaktauyok, Joe Average, Christie Belcourt, Simon Brascoupé and Mique Michelle. The Kipnes Lantern also works with partners, including the Department of Canadian Heritage, to feature imagery on days of national significance, such as Remembrance Day.

ABOUT THE NATIONAL ARTS CENTRE

The National Arts Centre (NAC) is Canada’s bilingual, multi-disciplinary home for the performing arts. As part of its Strategic Plan, the NAC’s vision is to lead and support the renewal of the performing arts sector. The NAC presents, creates, produces, and co-produces performing arts programming in various streams — the NAC Orchestra, Dance, English Theatre, French Theatre, Indigenous Theatre, and Popular Music and Variety — and nurtures the next generation of audiences and artists from across Canada. The NAC is located in the National Capital Region on the unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinaabe.

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FORE MORE INFORMATION:

Mary Gordon
Senior Communications Advisor
National Arts Centre
613-601-3877
nary.gordon@nac-cna.ca