The West Broadway BIZ is proud to partner with Wall to Wall Mural and Culture Festival to add beautiful art to our neighbourhood. Here are this year’s additions. We hope you’ll go check them out for yourself – and don’t forget to tag us if you snap a good photo or two! @westbroadwaybiz
“Welcome To Canada”
Esther Calixte-Bea
2021
Brossard, Quebec
Nine Circles
705 Broadway
(East-facing wall)
West Broadway BIZ
Esther Calixte-Bea’s “Welcome to Canada” illustrates a black-indigenous woman with a unibrow and visible arm hair smoking a cigarette in a landscape. She is covered by detailed drapery with illustrations of maple leaves surrounded by crows and legless Canadian birds. The issue addressed in the painting is Canada’s history of eraser of Black & Indigenous communities. It also addresses the lack of information and consideration of these groups as being part of Canadian history. The circle inside a square or squircle symbol, created by the artist, has many different meanings. It is used in Calixte-Bea’s work to represent unity while simultaneously representing the feeling of being stuck, spinning in circles, controlled & being blind. The work welcomes the hidden face/s of Canada by putting them in the forefront and paints a peaceful scenery with hidden meanings & disruptions.
Partners & Support
Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival, West Broadway BIZ, Synonym Art Consultation, Graffiti Art Programming, Signex Manufacturing Inc.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/artist_esie/
“Water yourself too”
Azka Ahmed
2021
Winnipeg, MB
Assiniboine Credit Union
640 Broadway
(North-facing wall)
West Broadway BIZ
Water yourself too demonstrates the importance of nourishing and looking after oneself. It serves a reminder that one has the capacity to bloom and grow by paying attention to one’s needs or “watering the seeds”. This piece is intended to inspire the viewer to prioritize their mental, spiritual and physical health, as “watering oneself” can be done in many ways. This piece is meant to encourage viewers to perform acts of self-care, encourage self-love and take care of oneself in order to grow and blossom into something beautiful.
Partners & Support
Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival, West Broadway BIZ, Synonym Art Consultation, Graffiti Art Programming, Signex Manufacturing Inc.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/azka.jpg/
“Beyond Change”
Kevin Celestino
2021
Winnipeg, MB
Salvation Army Thrift
97 Sherbrook St
(North-facing wall)
West Broadway BIZ
It has been there all along. The sun is rising. Opening my eyes after being startled by the alarm. A full cup of water loses volume, as I take my first sip of the day to clear my parched throat. The lush leaves on the trees outside the bedroom window shutter as the brisk morning wind passes through. For the perceived betterment or destruction, change has always been there. It has been there the moment we are born, today and for ages to come after we’ve passed. It is the only constant in our lives. Befriending it is an everyday meditation for the alternative has proven to be fruitless.
In this piece, nature inevitably has taken over. An omnipresent yet silent teacher of change, the natural world continues to teach me the values of change. Gently blanketing every inch of surface it can latch on. There are no exceptions. The moss and roots follow the grooves and cracks on the boulder. Change is growth that finds its way. The colorful mushrooms and the lone snail carrying out the task of returning plant nutrients back into the soil. Change does not stop at the end of life. Each transition seamlessly and beautifully blends with the next. Nature shows us that there is no end, only the next transformation. This is an existentially comforting idea that calms this anxious mind. Life is not a step by step list but a process in flux.
I am reminded by nature of life’s impermanence. I am reminded that this will soon come to an end and that’s okay. It is okay because it is all part of the infinite natural process. We are part of nature. We are part of this beautiful process. As I close my eyes pondering about this ever-changing river of life, I smile in peace. (June 2020)
Partners & Support
Wall-to-Wall Mural & Culture Festival, West Broadway BIZ, Synonym Art Consultation, Graffiti Art Programming, Signex Manufacturing Inc.
Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/kevcelestino/