The City's exhibition Hold True presents works by 41 artists, recently acquired as purchases or site-specific commissions through the City's Public Art Program. In 1983 Marion Dewar, Ottawa's mayor (1978-85), gathered a committee of seven (this writer was one of the seven to draft the City's Arts Policy, a new initiative: public art, art with no admission charge, for all to see.

Hold True is art of time and place, Ottawa today. Ottawa's multilayered worlds are well introduced by three short videos. In "nipëhtenän kiteh, We Can Hear Your Heartbeat," 2023, Red Pheasant Cree Nation artist Meryl McMaster presents the tale of a woman walking along a railway track. Hers is a story of healing. As she walks the trail, we hear her words: "I hear the land, you are my teacher."

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Remember the swans a'swimming in Dow's Lake? Sadly, they are gone.

Today, we do have Ramona Ramlochand's "White Swan," 2024, a golden light in the shadow. The swan is afloat on blue waters, motion created by its cut paper overlay.