2025
A Living Installation
Currently on view at Milliken Mills Park in Markham, Ontario Canada
This project is part of Our Park 2025: Learning from Mushroom
Woven into the landscape of Milliken Mills Park, The Underground Sun is a 2,500-square-foot living installation that takes its form from the branching patterns of mycelium. Composed of plants native to Ontario and designed in dialogue with the park’s existing mowing patterns, the piece functions as both a restorative ecology and a symbolic infrastructure.
Artist Xiaojing Yan worked with public art consultant Catherine Dean and local native plant nursery Ecoman to select perennials that bloom in staggered waves across the seasons. From goldenrod and cup plant to coreopsis, all the flowers share a yellow palette—radiating different shades of warmth and brightness to attract pollinators throughout spring, summer, and fall.
Rather than excavating or laying new ground, the planting process carefully disturbed only small pockets of soil, placing each plant within unmown areas defined by existing turf. The result is a subtle, evolving pattern that shifts with weather and growth, held in balance between human care and natural process. As a whole, the work invites viewers to reflect on how slow transformation, unseen connection, and patient care shape both ecological and civic life.
– Yan Wu
Public Art Curator for the City of Markham
Special thanks to Catherine Dean and Jonas Spring from Ecoman.
The artist would like to acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts and City of Markham.
Photo credit: Yan Chen 陈砚, Jun Zhao 赵峻, Aidan Mao