SWIFT
ONE SQUARE MILES + MUSAGETES
GUELPH, CANADA | 2011
GUELPH, CANADA | 2011
Swift is a community-based project about of the plight of the Chimney Swift, a threatened species of bird found in Guelph. The project explored and shared the natural history of the Chimney Swift and how a change in urban forms, specifically the reduction in large chimneys had unintended but serious consequences for this vulnerable population. The project focused on a collaboratively painted graphic that was centered in the main square and trickled through the downtown. At the same time artist multiples such as t-shirts, postcards and bookmarks were placed in local shops in the downtown, a guerilla marketing campaign for both the swifts and small businesses (a species similarly put at risk but urban change), who sold the items and kept the revenue.