VMF2022 Neighbourhood: River District
River District is a residential and commercial development, spanning 130 acres of land in South Vancouver. In 2020 it became home to ten VMF murals and 2021 brought a further eleven murals. The 2021 mural gallery, named “Garden Path”, has brought our artists together around the idea of a meandering path between a cultivated garden and wild forest, as a site of exchange, imagination, myth, transformation, and knowledge.
In 2022, we are adding five more murals around storytelling and the river as two central connected themes, shifting between ancient and new. The river itself tells stories: of the logging industry, of its changing habitats, of the rising and falling waters, and of those people and animals who inhabit its shores.
Joy Kim and Karl Hipol’s mural, “Water: Connecting Roots”, is part of the Climate Collection and envisions water as a source of life through an Asian Canadian perspective to address climate change within the landscape of so-called Canada. “Water is life” by Indigenous artists, Olivia George and Gordon Dick, showcases Mother Nature’s massive surface, the majority being covered by water and the rest land, and it shows how the most valuable element on Earth is water.
“Interdependence (2022)”, by Jocelyn Sanchez/creamyskeletons and Jess Stanley, is a piece that draws upon water as a force for life and death. It is a demonstration of the balancing scale and cycling lifeline that determines everything from the health of the ecosystems to your own individual wellbeing. “La Yacumama” (Quechua voice for "Mother of water"), by Miguel Otálora, Robot Soda, is strongly inspired and influenced by the artists’ Latin American roots. It pays tribute to the beautiful snakes, protectors of the water and the rivers, and to our ancient native ancestors and their system of beliefs.
“Personal Canal” by Anqi Cheng/TheCoalCinder and Liang Wang, depicts a girl who transforms her balcony into a personal canal to bring nature closer to home. Filled with fish and coral, the canal is a reminder of how water is the origin of all life, and how technology has been driving humans further and further away from nature.
Download our free Mobile App for self guided tours and more information on the 350+ murals across the city! Look for the "River District" Collection to find the new murals!
RIVER DISTRICT MURAL GALLERY TOURS BY CURATED TASTES, PRESENTED BY HERSCHEL SUPPLY
This year, we’re offering mural tours in River District led by Curated Tastes. Discover Vancouver’s largest open-air mural gallery down by the North Arm of the Fraser River in the lively developing neighbourhood of River District. Get some sun and fresh air while you learn how over 20 artists explore gardens and forests as sources of imagination, myth, transformation, and knowledge.
Date: August 14
Time: 10:00 am - 11:30 am
BOOK YOUR SPOT HERE.
MEET THE RIVER DISTRICT MURAL ARTISTS:
