Making a New Year’s resolution is one thing, but emblazoning it on the front of a t-shirt to tell the rest of the world about how you’re planning to improve takes it to a whole new level of commitment, according to Justin Langlois.
“So often New Year’s resolutions become a token rather than something we invest in,” said the assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences and founding member of the artist collective known as Broken City Lab.
Well known for their cutting edge artistic endeavours to get more people engaged with their community and make it a better place, BCL’s latest initiative is one that “speaks to t-shirt culture,” says Langlois.
Regret & Resolve is a project that asks the people of Windsor two basic questions: what’s your biggest regret, and what do you resolve to do to make your community a better place? A panel of artists will judge the submissions and narrow it down to the 50 most intriguing regrets and resolutions.
After that, they’ll print 50 of each on t-shirts. One t-shirt will go to the original author, and the other will be hung on the walls of Broken City Lab’s Civic Space to form an exhibition at the group’s Pelissier Street gallery.
“It’s a way to take ownership over what you regret, take greater responsibility, expose your feelings about how you want to make your city better and really commit to it,” said Hiba Abdallah, a graduate of the university’s school of visual arts and a key member of the group.
“As with a lot of our projects, it’s about trying to start a conversation,” said Langlois. “We’ll be trying to present some kind of coherent narrative. And that narrative is a lot more complex now than it was when Broken City Lab first started.”
So far about a dozen people have entered submissions, but the group has bought some Facebook ads and is promoting the project on its website and through social media.
Submissions to the project must be received no later than January 25. The gallery opening to launch the t-shirt exhibition will be held on January 31 from 7 to 9 p.m.