Artist-Initiated Public Art Microgrant 2021

Under the Bow Trail overpass, artist duo NASARIMBA (Mikhail Miller and Rachel Ziriada) discovered a community skate park that residents had developed using bridge architecture and salvaged building materials to create ramps and obstacles for skateboarding. Among this brutalist architecture, the duo created a mural featuring flowing water and plants specific to the region, providing a nature-inspired backdrop to the skate park. 

Throughout the painting process, the artists were able to get to know users of the park and pedestrians who frequented the area, developing connections to the space and larger community. Upon completion of the mural, they collaborated with the local skateboarding to involve the Tsuut’ina Youth Program in a day of learning, painting and skateboarding. 

Title: Excavation

Excavation is a community art project based on artifacts found in the DeWaal building. The project began by inviting community members to attend land-based photography workshops led by indigenous knowledge keepers, Crystal Manyfingers and Autumn Whiteway. During the workshops, attendees learned about indigenous history, archaeology and traditions. Following these workshops, artists Colleen Rauscher, Jenny Tzanakos, Lucy Altrows and Ramsey Kunkel completed a residency after examining the DeWaal building artifacts. The artists produced installations including sculptural works, photography series and cyanotypes, incorporating letters, stories, community artifacts and paper-based and natural materials. Excavation was able to further its reach to the community through future exhibitions and workshops and its inclusion in the Exposure Photo Festival. 

The FilipinX Kasaganaan Artist Collective created two public murals to showcase FilipinX community and culture. Following three sessions of community engagement with FilipinX women, youth and an Indigenous elder, the group collected ideas for the two murals. The theme for both was empowerment, and the resulting two murals in Kensington and Crescent Heights were contracted to local artists. 

Each mural has an English and Tagalog name. The mural in Kensington is named Women Empowerment — Katatagan ng Kababaihan, while the Crescent Heights mural is titled Youth Empowerment — Hangad ng Kabataang Pilipino. 

As the murals were being painted, community members expressed excitement over the project, local FilipinX aunties and uncles volunteered during the painting process, and bypassers from the community were happy to see their culture and history represented. 

This 5,000 sq ft mural, painted onto the side of the Calgary Dream Centre, explores the meaning of home and the stories of people currently experiencing homelessness. Artist Nicole Wolf drew inspiration from conversations with people in residence at the Dream Centre, who contributed words, ideas, drawings and poetry to inspire the final design.

Wolf then took the design to Indigenous leaders for conversation and feedback, as well as Knowledge Keeper Cheryl Bear. A fellow artist and collaborator of Wolf’s, Bear provided meaningful contributions to the symbols seen in the final work.

The resulting mural represents an every-person, with multiple faces, carrying a literal home on their back.

In collaboration with the Dream Centre staff, Wolf held an unveiling event for the residents — many said they could relate to the theme of the mural and saw their own experiences within it.

“(The mural) sheds light on the need for transitional and affordable housing, as well as mental health and addiction recovery services in our city,” said Wolf. “Tonight, there are over 3,000 Calgarians who are homeless or will sleep in a shelter. While people are inclined to look away when they see an under-housed person, at 5000 sq ft, this work makes this issue too big to ignore.”