Toronto 
Events Description
Join us for the first in the series of Lassonde Art Trail Artist Talks, organized in partnership with the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM).
The series launches with a talk by artist Monira Al Qadiri that centres on her public artwork “First Sun” a co-commission between the Lassonde Art Trail in Toronto and Public Art Fund in New York City. Al Qadiri will share the inspiration and creative development behind this majestic sculpture and how it responds to its future context in Toronto’s new Biidaasige Park and its former location in Central Park, NYC. She will also contextualize this project within her broader practice of creating public art and large-scale sculpture, and her interest in themes including a post-oil future, gender fluidity, ecological interdependence, and mysticism.
“First Sun” will be on view on the Lassonde Art Trail from September 12. The sculpture is a hybrid human-scarab figure that reimagines the ancient Egyptian deity Khepri—the god of the rising sun—as a modern monument. The figure’s face is a dazzling iridescent scarab beetle, rendered in crystal-based pigments that shift in colour depending on the light and time of day. The scarab, whose appearance at dawn was associated with the daily rebirth of the sun, invites viewers to reconsider humanity’s reverence for nature and the creatures we often ignore, fear, or exterminate. At a towering 17 feet tall and resplendent in purple and green hues, the sculpture reflects Al Qadiri’s interest in how humanity explores the unknown through science, religion, mythology, and art.
“First Sun” was co-commissioned by the Lassonde Art Trail and Public Art Fund and was previously exhibited at Doris C. Freedman Plaza, New York City, Sept 3, 2025 – Aug 3, 2026.
Who is it for?
All ages
HOW MUCH
Tickets : Free
How to get tickets?
WHEN & WHERE
Date: Monday September 14, 2026 | 6:30 – 8:00
Venue & Address
Royal Ontario Museum, 100 Queens Park, Toronto, ON M5S 2C6, Canada
Wheelchair accessible
