Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhch’ill

Brian Jungen's Couch Monster: Sadzěʔ yaaghęhch’ill, the AGO's first public art commission, stands at the corner of Dundas and McCaul Streets. In his first large-scale work in bronze, Jungen constructed the figure of an elephant from discarded leather sofas, inspired by the story of Jumbo, the circus elephant killed by a train in St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1885. The Dane-zaa subtitle translates to “My heart is ripping.”