“What will Canada look like in 2080 if we get everything right?”

That’s the guiding question behind a new art exhibition in L.R. Wilson Hall’s Waller Lobby: What if the future were something to look forward to, rather than dread?

Madeleine Orr, an author, researcher and assistant professor of sport ecology at the University of Toronto, explored that question as part of her fellowship in the Future of Canada Project, a pilot program that ran at McMaster from 2020 until 2024.

Orr was one of seven Future Fellows running creative, independent projects that imagined what Canada’s future might look like, based on one or more of five themes: climate change, rapid technological advancement, pandemic, challenge of reconciliation, and erosion of truth.

“I finished writing my first book, Warming Up: How Climate Change is Changing Sport, in early 2023, and was sad about how much bad news was out there about the future: every prediction was showing more disasters, more devastation, more harm, more damage,” says Orr, who is also the founder and co-director of the Sport Ecology Group.

“I realized we needed more good visions of the future, and something to motivate us forward. I also realized that the people who were the most optimistic and least jaded were kids, so I recognized their perspectives as a key resource that could be tapped for inspiration and direction.”

Orr set out on a journey to talk to kids and young people — a journey that would take her to elementary schools, high schools or universities in all 10 provinces, the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

Those talks centred on climate and nature, quality of life, interpersonal relationships and equitable institutions.

Along with discussions, participants were encouraged to elaborate on their thoughts through art: drawing, sketching, painting or writing about their ideas.

Working with the young participants were a series of professional artists from each area, who were commissioned to produce pieces based on the ideas raised in each discussion session.

One of those artists was Leah Flanagan, a collage artist and a McMaster graduate from the Faculty of Humanities’ media arts program — with a heavy dose of studio arts on the side.

It was an interesting challenge to create something positive and future-focused, says Flanagan, who works under the artist name Flanzella, using images from vintage magazines to create works that critique the past.

“I ended up working with a theme I called ‘Seeds of Tomorrow’, and tried to take good things from the past, like returning to older ways: smaller farming, or closer communities,” she explains.

“I tried to emphasize ideas of bringing old things to the future, like stopping mass-produced factory clothing, for example, and living closer to nature.”

While the artworks created by the students and artists are all very different, they do have a similarity that runs through all of them, Flanagan says.

“It was like we were all saying, ‘We know what we need to do,’” she says. “All these perspectives are really showing what needs to change.”

“We were all able to come to the same conclusion in very different media – every piece is so different, and yet the question on what we need to do is answered very clearly.”

In addition to its run in the Waller Lobby, where it will hang until Dec. 15, 2024, the exhibition has been on display at the Papermill Gallery in Toronto, and there are plans to take it elsewhere in the country in the future.

Teachers, students and participants have shared that they’ve developed a renewed sense of possibility when thinking about the future, Orr says, and she hopes that continues as more people visit the exhibition.

“Our brains aren’t meant to take so much existential dread and negativity — and many people want to do something about climate change, but don’t know where to start or whether their efforts would matter,” she says.

“Hopefully, with this exhibit, they’ll be stretching what they consider possible when it comes to the future, and reframing the future as something good to look forward to and worth working on.”

The Future of Canada Show will be on display in the Waller Lobby (ground floor, L.R. Wilson Hall) until December 15. Admission is free and all ages are welcome.