The Viola Desmond Experience is an interactive public art installation which commemorates the late Canadian civil rights icon. It allows viewers to use their mobile device to immerse themselves in a scene where an actress portraying Viola tells the story about her life, her challenges and her accomplishments.

Viola Desmond was an elegant and courageous Black businesswoman who challenged racial segregation in Nova Scotia during the 1940s. Building upon her legacy, this project aims to bring her story to life through this innovative exhibit to be enjoyed by and educate people for generations to come.

Creating the Scene
We focused on Viola’s career as a beautician and successful businesswoman, and featured her place of work, her beauty salon, as the theme for our installation.

The challenge was to design a scene that could adapt the interactive component and highlight aspects of Viola’s story and her accomplishments. We also wanted the space to be used as a way to attract viewers, and create a photo opportunity where people can interact with the space and share their experience online.

This final concept of a reimagined, modern day, virtual representation of what Viola’s success in the beauty industry could have looked like in today’s time period, allowed us meet all of these goals, and showcase all of her cosmetic products, her awards and achievements, her students and family, as well as her posthumous accolades, all while setting a scene and telling an exhilarating story.

As an added tribute, two other prominent African Nova Scotian women from the time period, Carrie M. Best and Portia White, are also featured in the artwork.

Telling the Story
The goal was to preserve the legacy of Viola Desmond in a modern and exciting way. So we thought it would be a great idea to have Viola tell her own story through the exhibit, and have it be activated by a viewer’s own mobile device, for maximum compatibility.

We envisioned having the viewer sit in the salon chair and watch and hear Viola speak about important moments in her life and her experiences, and also listen to her speak retrospectively about the impact she’s had on history. Even capturing her reaction to being featured on the Canadian $10 bill.

Behind the Scenes
We knew it would be important to document the journey of working on a project with such historical significance. So we produced a short video to share the story of how this milestone project came to fruition.