Raising Environmental Awareness With Public Art
All eyes have been on the environment lately. Devastation from fires in California, Australia, the Amazon, and many other places across the globe. Ice caps continue to melt. Society continues to depend on unsustainable measures for energy and everyday living. With increasing urgency around the issue of climate change, a sense of hopelessness can seep into our thoughts.
At VMF, we have seen how artists are exceptionally suited to capturing complex situations and problems, re-writing the social narrative.
Over the years, a number of VMF artists have aimed to raise awareness around global climate change with their murals, seeking to inform and engage audiences around climate issues affecting our city and world. This collection of VMF murals builds understanding, encourages changes in attitudes, and enables informed decision-making and behaviour affecting our environment.
Jennifer Clark
“Waggle Dance”
3207 Main Street
Mural Statement:
“This mural is about honeybees and the important role they play in the natural world and our food production. Specifically I’ll be painting about the waggle dance. It’s something that honeybees do in the hive to tell the other bees where they should go to find nectar from the most productive flowers. When a bee goes out and collects nectar from a new flower source, it then comes back to the hive. It gathers the attention of the other bees by vibrating its’ abdomen. Once it has their attention it starts to move and vibrate in certain ways to tell the other bees where to go to find that food source. The bees then go out and collect nectar from it. I am interested in highlighting this communication because bees are responsible for pollinating a large percentage of our food crops and it is important that we are educated about how they live and how we can protect them. Much pollinator habitat has been lost to agriculture, resource extraction, and urban and suburban development.
The relationship between bees and flowers blooming in the spring is disjointed due to climate change. Temperatures are shifting in the spring, which means that flowers are blooming at different times. This affects the bees and their feeding patterns. The environmental stress put on the bees from a variety of sources is also increasing their rate of disease, infections and parasites. Air pollution and pesticides are putting stress on them as well.
I feel the role of public art is to not only bring beauty to public spaces to inspire people; but it is also about bringing important issues to the forefront of people’s minds. Climate change is a very pressing issue and art can play a role in encouraging people to continue to think about it. I feel that this mural does that while shining a spotlight on the inspiring beauty of nature.
My nature-based representational artwork generally highlights life cycles that exist in our environment that are part of a larger ecosystem. Each painting illuminates the stages of growth or the characteristics of a living thing. Through geometric patterning and shape I create a coat of arms to reflect the sacred quality of these organisms that have evolved over thousands of years. Symbolism through micro and macro imagery tell a story of rich life, presently threatened by environmental stress and climate change.”
This mural was sponsored by Goodbye Graffiti.
Carole Mathys
“Reclaimed”
195 W Broadway
Mural Statement:
“There is a choice to make, with relative urgency, to coexist sustainably with nature. The Earth will survive without us, and will certainly flourish. But to ensure our own survival, we need to tread more lightly and stop destroying our home. Our disconnect from nature is the inspiration behind this futuristic outlook. Humanity is on the verge of extinction while nature grows back with vigor and thrives in spite of us, taking its world back.”
Tabouli
“Arctic Projections”
106 E 7th Ave
Mural Statement:
“Tabouli’s approach to design and illustration focuses on isometric projection and manipulation of depth and altitude. He breaks objects down into components and reconfigures them to create abstract, yet familiar, spatial forms.
In keeping with the VMF theme of Climate Change this year, his mural emphasizes a very important aspect of our planet that is at major risk—wildlife. Arctic animals are painted using an architectural technique called exploded isometric projection. This way of drawing is typically used to represent objects so that all facets of a whole can be represented as a sum of their parts. These intricate depictions showcase just how beautifully complex these endangered animals are, as a reminder of their importance to our planet.
In the background, fragmented icebergs float along the arctic seascape. Though, upon a closer look, the icebergs are composed of plastic bags. The scene is cut in section, and reveals that the icebergs are indeed made of ice, but smothered in plastic. The plastic bags represent consumerism — a leading cause of climate change— in a succinct way. The mural symbolizes consumerism-driven climate change as a direct correlation to wildlife facing extinction. In other words, the animals are exploding both figuratively, and perhaps literally.”
This mural was sponsored by Wondershare.
Abbey Pierson
“Entangled Flow”
31 W 3rd Ave
Mural Statement
“The world now is not what our parents had expected, it is not what their parents expected, nor theirs. Ours and each new generation faces the effects of neglect that spreads through the world like poison in veins. It takes form in our hatred, in our carelessness, and in our environment. In the last century human beings have uprooted the natural world in attempts for control over our environment, something we were never meant to do. From this uprooting came the toxic side of humanity with a mess of problems enough to disturb the mind forever. Our issues are entangled, but so are our solutions. It lies within ourselves and with each other. If we stop and look at our own pasts, we will see the entanglement like knotted twisted roots. Perhaps when we then look forward, we will become a connected flow in which we find our ties to all that is around us. Allowing us to heal what had been damaged, and create a flourishing future for life on Earth.
Originally I planned to leave the statement to end there, but I feel it is important to share the personal aspects of ‘Entangled Flow’. At this point even our social environment has been put under a big change. Being a citizen in Washington State meant I was unable to cross the border unless I had dual citizenship, which I don’t. This piece was originally intended to only speak on climate change, but as I came to finishing it’s design I saw it reflecting the past half year. In the year 2020 I’ve seen the world’s path transforming, I’ve seen the paths of my friends and family change, and my own has shifted and intersected with others in ways I never expected. Even the mural’s path changed, the design now being painted on the wall by Oksana Gaidacheva, an amazing artist from Belarus now living in Vancouver. Who I hope to continue to connect to in the future.
Right now I can only hope Earth’s change will ultimately be for the good, but there’s a feeling it is.”
This mural was sponsored by Wondershare.
Tyler Toews
“WASTE”
22 Powell Street (Harbour Light Alley)
Mural Statement:
Seven edgy images meant to inspire dialogue about our waste, pollution, climate change, and the effects of our single use society. Check out his blog feature HERE to learn more about each individual piece!
This project was a collaboration between @mygastown, @vanmuralfest, and Revolution Resource Recovery.
Other environmental murals:
“Earth Justice” by Shepard Fairey 2019
“Frog” by Jordan Gallie 2018
“The Kraken” by Tyler Toews 2018
“Hole in the Sky” by Atheana Picha 2018
“Exhausting Machine” by Nevercrew 2016
“Huey Tonantzin Tlalli Coatlicue” by Cas Nahui 2021
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All photos by Gabriel Martins
