Look, Slit, Turn

Halifax 2026

Look, Slit, Turn was developed during the Winter 2026 semester as part of the Public Art Project course at NSCAD University in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The project was created for a public setting, with the installation realized at Fort Ogilvie, a historic coastal fortification located within Point Pleasant Park.

The work was presented as part of If These Trees Could Talk, a group exhibition of outdoor installations held at Point Pleasant Park. The exhibition opened on April 14, 2026, with an opening reception at Black Rock Beach, and remained on view until May 14, 2026. Look, Slit, Turn was installed on the lawn at Fort Ogilvie throughout the exhibition.

Look, Slit, Turn takes the geometric form of the firing slit found in the defensive walls of Fort Ogilvie as its starting point. Originally designed for defense and concealment, these openings established a specific direction of viewing: from a protected, wider interior through a narrow opening toward the outside. Their function depended not only on their geometry, but also on the wall and the conditions in which they were used.

The work removes the firing slit from its original architectural context and presents its form as a series of freestanding structures arranged in a circular formation. Without the surrounding wall, the geometry remains, but the conditions that once determined its function disappear. Viewers are free to approach the structures from either side and choose their own direction of looking.

In practice, many viewers are instinctively drawn to look through the narrow opening toward the widening space beyond, reversing the direction implied by the original defensive design. Their choices are guided by bodily intuition and everyday visual habits rather than the structure's intended function.

The work does not attempt to reconstruct the historical function of the firing slit or assign it a new meaning. Instead, it isolates a structure from the system that once defined its use. While the physical form remains unchanged, the act of looking becomes open and reversible, allowing different relationships between the viewer, the structure, and the surrounding space to emerge.

Firing slit in the wall of Fort Ogilvie.

Look, Slit, Turn

Drawing, Pencil