ANTHEMS TO COLOUR

Liz West

• Architects

Award-winning British Artist Liz West has unveiled a trio of new works in Toronto, Canada, responding to her love of 90s music and the rhythmic, collective experience of colour and light.

Inspired by West's lifelong love of 1990s pop culture, including a much-documented passion for collecting Spice Girls memorabilia, Anthems to Colour draws on the energy, optimism, and emotional resonance of the era's iconic music. Like the chart-topping anthems that shaped a generation, the three artworks use colour, light, and playfulness to create immersive experiences that evoke joy, nostalgia, and collective connection.

Anthems to Colour is a series of large-scale and site-specific public artworks, commissioned by Luminato Festival and supported by Brookfield Properties and located in three of its downtown sites. These works transform everyday urban architecture by using coloured mirrors, transparent acrylic and refracted light to drench the city in prismatic colour.

Designed to respond to the movement of the sun, the installations shift throughout the day: grids of coloured panels glow against glass facades, mirrored elements reflect and multiply surrounding architecture, and translucent walls scatter prismatic colour into the space around them. These are not static sculptures but responsive environments— works that use daylight as a material. As the light changes, familiar buildings and public spaces are transformed, turning marble, glass, and steel into luminous, layered, and unexpectedly playful experiences.

West explains, “Anthems to Colour celebrates the emotional power of colour and the spirit of play. Through these new artworks, I wanted to create moments of curiosity, joy, and connection that invite audiences to engage with colour in unexpected ways. I am deeply grateful to Luminato Festival for commissioning this trio of new artworks and for championing ambitious public art that brings people together through shared experiences. Unveiling these works in Toronto is especially meaningful, as the city’s diversity, dynamism, and cultural vibrancy resonate deeply with the spirit of the series.”