Artist: Xiaojing Yan and Lilly Otasevic
Category: Public Monuments & Memorials
Address: 9 Wellington Street East, Brampton

In celebration and honour of the Honourable William "Bill" Grenville Davis​, former Premier of Ontario and Brampton champion, the City of Brampton has commissioned a memorial artwork dedicated to his legacy. The monument will be situated at the Peel Art Gallery, Museum and Archives (PAMA), located near Brampton City Hall and Gage Park, once fabricated and installed in the spring of 2025.

The positive/negative space interplay formed by a collection of abstract shapes gracefully evolves to reveal a silhouette portrait of Bill Davis - just for a moment and at a certain angle - offering a personal and intimate glimpse into the person behind Ontario's fundamental transformation during his tenure. As the explorative quality of the sculpture leads the viewer to a different vantage point, the portrait disappears and the sculpture reveals the words "Educate Inspire," in reference to his enormous impact and legacy in shaping the Ontario education system. This aspect of the artwork requires viewers to engage, inviting them to explore and interpret its meaning. The dual imagery not only celebrates his individuality but also serves as a metaphor for the multifaceted nature of his leadership and public service.

image of Contours of Connection, 2025
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Xiaojing Yan is a Chinese-Canadian award-winning artist based in Markham. Her work reflects her journey through these various cultures, arriving at her own personal vocabulary. Her unique point of view unites the past and the present, encompassing culture and nature, art and science. Her work has appeared in solo exhibitions at institutions including the Chinese American Arts Council in NYC, Richmond Art Gallery in Canada, Suzhou Museum in China, Hermes Maison in Shanghai, and Varley Art Gallery in Canada. Her projects have been featured in venues throughout Canada as well as China, France, USA and Greece. Yan has also completed commissions in Canada, China and France including her "Zodiac Sign Project" commission and installation "Cloudscape" at the Royal Ontario Museum, window display "Into the Dreams" and installation "Emergence" by Hermes, Shanghai, China. Yan has received numerous awards and grants including InStyle's Women InCreation Prize in Visual Arts (2021), Project Grants from the Ontario Arts Council, Proj​ect Grants from the Canada Council, Chalmers Arts Fellowship from the Ontario Arts Council, Young Alumni Achievement Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

Lilly Otasevic is a Serbian-Canadian award-winning Toronto-based visual artist, industrial designer, and curator. After completing her formal art education in Serbia, Otasevic left her war-torn country of Yugoslavia and immigrated to Canada in 1994. Since then, she has exhibited in Canada, the USA, Europe, United Arab Emirates, and China. Even though a trained painter, Otasevic's main body of work consists of sculptural and photo-based work. Her art is driven by her interests in nature and our place in the higher order of things in the universe. Growing up in a society with recycling practices in the early '80s influenced Otasevic's interest in ecology and the environment since childhood. Otasevic uses various materials and is presently focusing on reclaimed bricks. For the past fifteen years, her focus has also included site-specific sculptural work. Otasevic has successfully completed several large-scale public sculptural and industrial design projects in Ontario, Canada. Otasevic was part of a Canada-China cultural exchange organized and curated by Xiaojing Yan in 2017, where she collaborated with production teams. As a result, Otasevic's sculptural work is now also part of a public art collection of the City of Zhangjiagang, Jiangsu, China.

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