Covering the north wall of Eltuek’s lounge and cafe, this wallpaper installation by Sara Roth layers imagery of wild blueberry bushes, working hands, and the ruins of the Sydney Steel Plant — one of the last large monuments of Industrial Cape Breton to fall, what is now known as Open Hearth Park and is located not far from Eltuek Arts Centre. Hand-drawn and digitally rendered, the repeating pattern in this work blends natural motifs with symbols of labour and industry, reflecting both remembered and imagined histories of Unama’ki.
The use of wallpaper itself is deliberate. Once a cheap way to cover cracks and neglect, it parallels the economic “quick fixes” that followed the decline of coal and steel. By enlarging it to architectural scale, Roth transforms a domestic material into a public meditation on memory, resilience, and change.
In conversation with Ursula Johnson’s Resonance at the main entrance, this work calls us to consider the legacies of industry, the persistence of community, and the ongoing work of constructing new futures from a layered past.
