A Digital Tree Grows in New York City

New York City’s “Midnight Moment” is the world's largest and longest-running digital public art program. Since 2012, over 100 contemporary artists have presented their work to millions of viewers on one of the most iconic public canvases: the electronic billboards of Times Square. There, for three minutes nightly and 364 nights a year (except for when the ball drops on New Year’s Eve), the ads are dimmed on 95+ screens from 41st to 49th Streets, and the art takes over.  

For the month of February, a hand-painted animation of a banyan tree by Eeman Masood (Visual Arts MFA 2025) titled There is a voice that doesn’t use words, Listen—which was her MFA thesis project—transformed Times Square from one of the world’s most technological and chaotic boulevards into a poetic, immersive experience, reflecting on the silent languages of nature and the endurance of the natural world.

Born in Lahore, Pakistan, Masood earned her BFA from Lahore’s National College of Arts (NCA) in 2021 with a major in miniature painting before coming to UVic to pursue her graduate work on a fully funded scholarship. While at UVic, she was the recipient of several notable awards, including the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant, the Jeffrey Rubinoff Graduate Scholarship, the Jessie Allan Forsyth Scholarship and the Canwest Global Scholarship in Video Arts.

Masood’s work explores the emotional and spiritual connections between nature, solitude and ecological awareness. Combining traditional techniques with contemporary mediums, she expands classical miniature painting through intricate works and hand-painted animations.

What does it mean to you to have your work shown on such an enormous canvas as Times Square? Did people literally stop and “listen,” as the title encourages?
It was a magical moment, truly, and I feel very grateful to have had this opportunity. My work features the banyan tree, under which many gatherings and discussions used to take place. Bringing that tree to the busiest street in the world and projecting it above people kind of recreated the same sense of gathering—but in a very different way. I would go there every midnight to quietly stand among the audience, and it was so moving to see people stop, sometimes filming at first, but then pausing and just absorbing the work fully.

Your thesis project specifically focused on the banyan tree: why choose that as your subject matter? And why did you choose to create a hand-painted animation?
The banyan tree is one of South Asia’s most prestigious trees, often called the mother tree or the walking tree because it keeps expanding. It’s also endangered, and I wanted to raise awareness about that. But the work goes deeper, reflecting on how we are part of nature and connected to the universe. The title of the work is a quote by the Persian mystic Sufi poet Maulana Rumi, asking us to reflect within. Being trained in traditional miniature painting, I wanted to translate the detailed, meditative connection between breath and brush into hand-painted animation, expanding the world of my paintings naturally into motion: in the video, the leaves move slowly and naturally align with the breath.

You received a number of awards and funding during your graduate studies: what did that amount of donor support mean to you, and what did it enable you to do?

How did your time in the Visual Arts department impact your creative development? How much of an influence was your grad advisor, Kelly Richardson?

My time at UVic will always be one of my most memorable periods. Moving to Canada, it became my first home, and I felt supported by faculty, staff and students. Facilities like private studios, editing rooms and scanners allowed me to experiment and work freely, which was crucial for my creative growth. Professor Richardson has been such a positive influence: when I arrived at UVic, I hadn’t imagined moving from painting into animation, and much of that transition happened because of her encouragement and support. She always pushed me to do better, and her own work was a constant inspiration. We connected on many ideas, and I’ve learned a lot from her practice and journey as an artist. She helped me believe in myself and my work, especially during difficult moments, and I’m deeply grateful for her support.

What’s next for you?
I recently completed an artist residency at the Banff Centre, where I began a new animation project that I plan to continue developing. Alongside that, I’m preparing a new series of paintings. Moving forward, I want to explore how animation and painting can continue to inform each other, expanding the worlds I’ve been building in my work. It’s an exciting time to experiment, take risks and grow my practice—I’m looking forward to seeing how these new projects develop over the coming months and years!

— John Threlfall, BA ’96

This article appears in the UVic Torch alumni magazine.

For more Torch stories, go to the UVic Torch alumni magazine page.