Originally conceived for an ArtworxTO presentation at Union Station in 2021, Overture for Sterling Road is part of Lisa Myers’ ongoing
engagement with berries and berry pigment. The words OVER ASKING, appropriated from ubiquitous real estate SOLD signs, point to the ways that individual and corporate wealth are amassed at the expense of home, community, land, and sustenance.

By placing the work in MOCA’s neighbourhood, which is currently experiencing significant development and building construction, Overture for Sterling Road points to how predatory real estate practices and celebratory consumerism are facets of ongoing colonialism, whereby stolen lands and resources are first fragmented and then packaged into discrete parcels of speculative capital. Reworked for GTA24, the image also acts as the end point of Myers’ audio walk Aki’s echo. Together, these works extend the exhibition’s reach outside the museum, inviting the viewer to question one’s place and the continued overtaking inherent to colonization.