Charity

In July 2017, residents of Cathedraltown, a suburban development in Markham, Ontario, awoke to find Charity, a giant chrome replica of a cow, facing their homes. The residents, however, had never been consulted about the installation of their new eight-metre high bovine neighbour, and quickly rose in opposition to the sculpture. After a barrage of complaints and numerous municipal-level discussions, the city council agreed to remove the controversial cow. 

Charity looks at the unlikely controversy surrounding suburban public art, focusing on the bureaucratic processes that unfolded over several years in the Markham City Council as a way to consider the broader forces at play in our municipal democracies. Presented as a public digital artwork produced by the National Film Board of Canada in partnership with MOCA Toronto, this interactive documentary raises questions about the identity of a place, who determines it and the challenges of representing multiple subjective experiences and histories simultaneously.