VMF2022 Neighbourhood: Strathcona
With over 400 businesses, Strathcona is a diverse community of makers and doers, continuing to sustain the neighbourhood’s longstanding history of perseverance and resilience. As with the rest of Vancouver, the Burrard Inlet was home to many Indigenous communities prior to the eventual settlement of a largely European, Asian, and African working-class population. The neighbourhood developed in part due to its connection to the Hastings Mill in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Many of the original heritage builds from that period still stand, and can be seen throughout the more residential parts of the area.
Strathcona has an unexpectedly vibrant arts scene and is one of the city’s key gallery districts. Some of the most prolific and renowned Vancouver based galleries such as Catriona Jeffries and Monte Clarke call the Strathcona neighbourhood their home. Take a self-guided tour through the Strathcona neighbourhood to seek out their open galleries and visit 30+ VMF murals, including 4 new murals for 2022.
Imaginal Discs
Mural Artist: Jennifer Clark
This mural is located on a building that is home to Canada’s first Recovery Cafe operated by the Kettle Society. This space is a refuge for individuals seeking recovery from homelessness, poverty, isolation, substance use and other mental health challenges.
Butterflies and moths are the primary imagery representing symbols of transformation. Through the process of metamorphosis, they are changing, shifting, and forming. The same can be said for the community at Kettle, their lives are shifting in new directions. The flight of the butterfly is symbolic of hope, the yellow and blue squares reference light, matter, pixels, stars and individuals in a community, together. The white shapes in the background bring light, something necessary to illuminate a path forward. Nature carries within its design a kind of poetry that we can learn from.
Perhaps if we study and appreciate the complexity of nature we will take good care of it, as well as ourselves because the two are connected and are part of a bigger whole.
This is an Invitation to Leave Your Armour at the Door
Mural Artist: Corey Bulpitt / Ta’kiid Aayaa
This mural depicts a scene of sea, land and sky, with mountains and the moon in the background, with a killer whale fin, paddlers in a canoe and a cedar branch in the foreground.
The mountains represent what the Dudes have overcome, the paddlers represent the Dudes on their journey, the killer whale fin represents those that have gone on before them.
The moon represents the female energy which is important to them all even in this male-based group. The cedar branch represents medicine.
miskinâhk
Mural artist: Caleb Ellison-Dysart
Turtle Island is the name that various Indigenous nations have always called "North America” since time immemorial. The name comes from oral histories and creation stories that tell of a turtle who holds the world on its back. It is important, now more than ever, that we take care of Turtle Island and all it’s inhabitants. Let’s not forget our responsibility to the life around us.
Protect Our Trees
Mural Artist: Mia Ohki
“Protect Our Trees” features three bonsai trees: the first is a cherry blossom tree, the middle pot has a person in a kimono tending a fir tree sapling, and the last features a Japanese maple tree. The kimono is adorned with traditional Métis beadwork designs that connect to the roots of the sapling. The cherry blossom with the image of Japan’s Mount Fuji on the pot is protected by a shimenawa warding off evil spirits.
The Japanese maple tree’s pot has Vancouver’s “The Lions” mountain range carved on its surface. “千樹の森を守ろう” on the center pot roughly translates to “Protect Ancient Trees”, with emphasizes the importance of protecting sacred trees. Considering the long history of Fujiya in Vancouver, the title of the design has two meanings: we must protect the trees in British Columbia, pillars of the coastal forest, and we must support the pillar businesses of the Vancouver community.
Download our free Mobile App for self guided tours and more information on the 350+ murals across the city! Look for the "Strathcona" Collection to find the new murals!
MEET THE STRATHCONA MURAL ARTISTS:
