Rising from the Ruins Regina Canada

Rising From the Ruins is a public artwork by Grant McLaughlin, created in 2012 to mark the centenary of Regina’s 1912 tornado. The Downtown Regina Public Art Guide places it at 1860 Lorne Street. Its subject is the community’s response to the disaster, with attention to the people who helped the city recover.

The Story Behind Rising From the Ruins

The Regina Tornado Legacy Group commissioned the work. Measuring four by seven metres, it combines Dibond, acrylics and fibreglass. The Downtown Regina Public Art Guide describes its connection to the solidarity that emerged among people from different cities, provinces and countries after the tornado.

That is what interests me about a work like this. It gives a historical event a place in the everyday city, where someone can encounter it on an ordinary walk. The subject is serious, but the encounter does not require entering a museum or setting aside an afternoon. You can stop, look and then decide to learn more.

I enjoy finding the details that give a place its character. My Saskatchewan photography collection includes photographs from my travels through the province.

A memorial can be easy to pass without understanding what it records. Knowing who made it, why it was commissioned and what happened at that time changes the way I look. Those details also matter when I write about public art: the original artist and the people being remembered should remain part of the story.

Finding the Artwork in Regina

The map below marks the Lorne Street address listed in the public art guide. If you are making a special trip, check current local information for access or changes at the site. Public spaces and the buildings around them can change long after a guide or photograph is published.

Why I Photograph Public Art

Public art gives me another way to understand a city. A mural may commemorate an event, make an argument or bring colour to a wall that people had stopped noticing. I am interested in both the artwork and the setting around it: the building, the pavement and the way it enters someone’s view.

When photographing another artist’s work, I want to identify that artist and keep the distinction between their artwork and my photograph clear. The angle, light and surrounding space are choices I make. The mural’s design and meaning belong to its maker and its context.

My article on urban graffiti art explores more of what draws me to art encountered on the street. The question of whether graffiti should be considered art opens a related discussion, although a commissioned memorial and an uncommissioned piece of graffiti have different origins.

I like that these encounters can interrupt a familiar route and make me look again. For more photographs of art in public spaces, explore my graffiti photography collection. The places and intentions vary, but the invitation to pay attention is something they share.