Toronto artist Dara Vandor has placed speculative plaques around the city as a dark commentary on nationhood's fragility, prompted by Trump's threats to make Canada the 51st state. The series, titled Pax Americana, expresses alternate realities through inscriptions, such as a fictional surrender of Canadian forces in 2025. Vandorâs plaques symbolize a vision of potential events and provoke reflection on the consequences of national identity. Though they often disappear shortly after installation, the project aims to spark dialogue about the future and the nature of sovereignty.
One plaque, titled Surrender of the Tecumseth Irregulars, 2025, includes the inscription: "Near this site, approximately one hundred local Canadian irregulars surrendered to United States Patriot liberation forces on the eleventh of August, 2031. After weeks of urban warfare, most of the surrounding neighbourhood was destroyed."
It started off with a lot of anger after Donald Trump said that he would annex Canada, make it the 51st state, and it made me just wildly angry." Vandor expressed that her project is a vision of a potential reality.
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