Commissioned by Ben's Bakery, Life was designed by noted painter Joseph Drapell shortly after he emigrated from Czechoslovakia as a refugee, landing in Halifax in 1966.

[1][2] The piece, one of the artist's first professional works, sits along the edge of the bakery's former property, shielding an open-air car park and loading area from the commercial street beyond.

[4] There is a small plaque mounted at the eastern end of the sculpture, which bears the artist's name (rendered as "Josef Drapell"), the title of the piece, and "Halifax 1968".

[1] In an effort to rehabilitate the piece, in 2006 the municipal government asked Halifax artist Philip Doucette to cover Life with mosaic tiles.

He stated that the sculpture is a reminder of a young artist who immigrated to Halifax and went on to achieve international recognition, and asked, "do we keep the fact that he had been here in our memory?