The Welcome Back Project > Community Art Crawl

We Help Each Other Out
We Help Each Other Out
Acrylic sheet, acrylic paint on welcome mat
23.5 x 35 inches
2022

Artist: Pansee Atta
Location: Cedar's and Co. Food Market (Old Ottawa South)

This artwork shows strange creatures of different sizes, shapes, and colours, helping one another up and through the dry, rough foreground into the colourful background. Through this collaboration, these figures become a community despite their differences; in fact, their differences help them overcome their obstacles. The artwork asks: how are our communities shaped by the ways we help one another out? Who can we rely on for support when we need it? Inspired by traditional Middle East book arts, this artwork remixes this historical form using familiar (a commonplace floor mat) and futuristic (laser-cut clear acrylic sheeting) materials.

Photo credit: Rémi Thériault