Love locks sculpture unveiled in Vancouver's Queen Elizabeth Park

Entitled "Love in the Rain,"the new steel sculpture features four couples embracing under their umbrellas.

The public art piece was unveiled in Queen Elizabeth Park in Vancouver Wednesday.

It's designed to be covered by love locks padlocks couples attach to permanent structures as a symbolic gesture of their unbreakable love. The artist, Bruce Voyce, invited the public to come to the park to attach their own love locks.

The first lock

After a Labour Day marriage proposal at the site of the new art piece,ArvinderGill andSukhdeepUppalfrom Surreywere the first couple to attach their engraved lock of love to the sculpture.

A better place to put your love lock

Park Board chair Sarah Kirby-Yung hopes the sculpture will givelovers a better place for their locks, rather than structures such as the Burrard Bridge. The bridge can be damaged under the extra weight of thousands of love locks.

Turning waste metal into future art projects

The installation incudes a drop box for padlock keys, which are generally thrown away and become litter.

Instead, the keys will be collected,melted down and used foran art piece in the future.