Have you seen a work of art from high above the ground or walked across one that’s so huge you weren’t aware of it? This handout for children and families shows how an artwork can look different depending on your point of view. There’s an activity you can do at home or outside along with some perspective on Esther Shalev-Gerz’s The Shadow, an artwork on the UBC Vancouver campus. This handout was adapted from a tour created for Kids Take Over UBC in February 2020.

Download the handout below or read the text that follows.

Be a Bird, Be a Bug

Did you know that you can see things from different perspectives? Today you’ll learn how to use perspective to take photos, draw and more!

A bird flies high in the sky and sees the world from above. They might look straight down on trees, buildings and people. A bug walks on the ground and sees the world from below. They might look up and see flowers towering over them or a tree that looks monumentally huge. Can you make artwork imagining that you’re a bird or a bug? What does your room look like from a bird’s or bug’s eye view? You can take photos or draw a picture.

Did you know that there’s artwork on the UBC Vancouver campus that uses the perspectives of seeing from high above and below? The Shadow by Esther Shalev-Gerz is an artwork made out of paving stones. Because this artwork is in the ground, you can see the whole piece at once with a bird’s eye view. You can also be a bug when moving across it.

The artist who made The Shadow, Esther Shalev-Gerz, is an internationally renowned artist. Born in Vilnius, Lithuania, she was raised in Jerusalem, Israel and has been residing in Paris since 1984, spending her summers on Cortes Island, BC. Her work asks how we understand the world by looking at history and cultural identity. You can learn more about Esther Shalev-Gerz and The Shadow here.

Image (above): Esther Shalev-Gerz, The Shadow, 2018. Photo: Hassan El Sherbiny.  Illustrations and text by Scy Krogh, Asumi Oba, Oluwasayo Olowo-Ake, Jay Pahre and Naomi Sawada