There’s something bright floating in the water south of Toronto’s Harbour Square: 25 orange figures clinging to tubes. The two artists behind “SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers),” Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier, say the art installation was designed to draw attention to the plight of refugees. It was originally displayed in Boston for two months in 2016, and will be in Toronto until the middle of September.

The Star talked to Hirsch to find out more about the inspiration behind the project, and what it means today.

How did the idea for the project first come about?

We’re here from Boston. In 2016 we had the opportunity to do a project in Fort Point Channel in Boston that was supported by the Fort Point arts community. The installation opportunity came about as we were preparing for the 2016 election in the U.S. Discussion around immigration and refugees was becoming an increasingly important part of the public conversation around the election and the campaigns and certainly, that’s only increased since then.

The idea came about because looking at the body of water where the project was proposed, we really saw such a very strong connection between that body of water and the bodies of water that so many refugees are crossing and risking their lives to get to safety. For us in Boston, and for you in Toronto, immigration is a big part of your past and a big part of why people love Toronto — because it has opened its doors and been welcoming to so many people for so long. That’s the case in Boston as well.

How did the project land in Toronto?

We are just so lucky to work with Waterfront Toronto for this project because they reached out to us as well as to other artists to see if they [could] launch their first temporary art project. Our project was ready to go when they called and we’re just very luck that it happened that way and there’s such a strong connection with the subject of the work and what’s going on in Toronto today.

Can you talk about how the work was manufactured?

My partner, Jeremy Angier, and I at A+J Art+Design, we both designed and fabricated the work ourselves. This piece started out with some digital modelling to design the work for the space with computer rendering and then we actually made a sculpture of clay with the figure. And then we cast that with the mould. We made 26 casts out of the mould we made and then designed a tethering system so that the piece would allow each individual swimmer to move on a line connected to a tethering system that we anchored.

What’s the significance of the orange colour?

[Orange] represents danger, peril and also the colour of a lot of life vests like the ones that we were seeing in 2016 around the beaches around the Mediterranean in those photographs that we all saw, the people landing on the shores of the Mediterranean at so many different locations.

How has the importance if your work evolved over the last three years, especially given the recent images at the U.S.-Mexico border that have dominated headlines?

This is such a big question. The images are horrifying. Our two countries, the U.S. and Canada, we’re very connected in this way in terms of the border. What happens in the U.S. certainly has been affecting Canada. I think one of the things we think about is the influence of the media in polarizing the discussion around immigration policy. Some of us might argue that it’s not an issue that should be so polarizing.

Immigration policy is complex and most of us in the U.S. and Canada came from somewhere else. It’s an integral part of both of our countries and we look at climate change, when we look at events around the world that are causing people to leave their homes because they’re not safe, because their lives are at risk, migration is only going to increase. [It is] all of our responsibilities, no matter where we live, is to try to do something about it, to help people.

What do you hope people take away from seeing your piece?

We’re hoping that the Safety Orange Swimmers can be part of the conversation around immigration that is already happening. By putting this piece in the public space, that public space becomes a space where that conversation can happen outside, where people who don’t know each other might meet and engage in the conversation.

Public art, when it’s doing it’s job, it doesn’t just say one thing. By being ambiguous and [having] multiple messages, you’re going to have those conversations on what’s happening, why is it happening, who are they. Those questions are now being answered on Harbour Square Park. People are coming up with their own ideas, own concepts and own interpretations and sharing them, and we love that.

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With this public art piece, like so many others, it almost exists in two places. It’s there in the physical side, of course, but also in the digital realm and the social media realm. There’s another conversation happening and it’s exciting.

Responses have been edited for length and clarity.

TY Tom Yun is a breaking news reporter, working out of the Star's radio room in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter: @thetomyun

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