Emotion Cartography<\/a>, where she worked with community members from different backgrounds on a project that explored creative ways to communicate experiences and emotions. \u201cThe main point [was imagining] how to create spaces where people from all sorts of backgrounds could come together and connect across lines of differences.\u201d<\/p>\nFor this mural project, Chow said that she wanted to explore how \u201cwe can use art marking as a methodology to gather information\u2026 where we can create and point out resources that people might be interested in, and form connections through [that process].\u201d<\/p>\n
Over the following months, the project began to take shape through a series of workshops, community gatherings and a ton of input from neighbours.\u00a0<\/p>\n
First, Chow and her two co-facilitators, Emily Huang and Carol Mac, spent months in the early spring reaching out to the community, planning workshops and promoting the project. They reached out to youth programs, seniors\u2019 groups, the Grandview-Woodland Historical Society, the Vancouver Heritage Society, mental health and community arts organizations and local schools, all in an effort to capture as many voices as possible.\u00a0<\/p>\n
In early June, it was time to host their first of three workshops, where Chow and her co-facilitators created what she called \u201ca sort of time machine activation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
At the first workshop, facilitators set up three stations where participants were invited to respond to prompts printed on cards that related to either the present, past or future of the community.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Some of the questions included things like \u201cWhere did people in your family or community like to gather when you were growing up?\u201d \u201cWho in your community helps you feel a sense of belonging and how do they do that?\u201d and \u201cIn the future, how could this neighbourhood better support people in finding community and connection?\u201d<\/p>\n
Participants responded through a range of media, from conversation to collage, photography to poetry, drawing and more. They shared stories of belonging tied to playing hockey, Commercial Drive\u2019s role as a queer community safe haven, and even how the area\u2019s walkability has been \u201clife-changing.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Rather than asking what felt missing or broken, Chow said, facilitators felt it was important for people to imagine what they would like to welcome more of into the neighbourhood, encouraging participants to focus on sensory parts of their experiences.<\/p>\n
At the end, the team had 70 pieces of audio and more than 140 points of visual reflections that symbolically represented participants\u2019 stories and experiences relating to the neighbourhood.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One such story was from a man named Amer who moved to East Vancouver from Beirut. He created a \u201csnowflake-style mandala\u201d and shared a poem with the team, describing what it has been like for him to move from a place where he had experienced conflict and fear, to starting a new life in Vancouver. \u201cHe saw children in the neighbourhood that reminded him of growing up\u2026 and coming back to life and living life to the fullest,\u201d a translator said, relaying Amer\u2019s experience in one of the team\u2019s recorded stories.\u00a0<\/p>\n
After two days of the time machine workshop, Chow said the team hosted a seven-hour-long \u201ccommunity living room\u201d gathering on the bridge, where participants viewed the art created during the time machine exercise in an informal \u201cpop-up gallery.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had people come back and share with others what their reflections were, how they\u2019ve evolved and what themes they saw and heard,\u201d she said. Everyone was then invited to vote on what themes resonated with them the most. \u201cThat\u2019s how we glued together all of these different symbols [and made it into] what the mural is now.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The mural itself incorporates a variety of images, each carrying deep meaning for the hundreds of people involved in the project.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of the images that made it onto the mural included a set of overlapping but separate bubbles, imagined by a woman named Sarah who reflected on the question \u201cHow has this neighbourhood changed since you\u2019ve been here? And how has that changed where people gather?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was sharing how many people come here from different cultures and backgrounds,\u201d said Chow. \u201cThere\u2019s a desire to be respectful, but sometimes that can create distance.\u201d In the image, the bubbles are really fluid; they press together, but then suddenly a closeness forms. \u201cIt\u2019s about how connection happens when people slowly and safely learn about one another and create a [safe] space where relationships can deepen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Many participants incorporated various nature motifs, including images of trees reaching together, inspired by one of the Squamish names for the Grandview-Woodland area, Khupkhahpay\u2019ay, meaning cedar tree.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cTrees form protection, and it\u2019s a home to shelter all,\u201d Chow said. The middle of the mural, in particular, is really inspired by this sort of imagery. \u201cIn a sense, when we are well, we\u2019re able to naturally protect vulnerable community members.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Crows were another popular image amongst participants, said Chow, due in large part to the \u201ccrow super highway\u201d that cuts across Grandview-Woodland, where upwards of 10,000 crows<\/a> migrate to Burnaby to roost each night.\u00a0<\/p>\n\u201cI resonated with [the crow imagery] very deeply,\u201d Chow said, laughing, \u201cSometimes when I was going to work and school, I felt like [the crows and I] were on the same commute.\u201d<\/p>\n
Other images like hearts, freight trains, the Skytrain, seeds, and seasons can all be found in the massive mural, capturing themes ranging from connection to rebirth to togetherness.\u00a0<\/p>\n
There is, however, a challenge inherent in trying to succinctly summarize what the mural symbolizes, said Chow. Especially with so many individual stories captured within the piece, she cautioned, \u201cwhen you zoom out, you can buff out too many details.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The feedback she has received from participants and community members so far has been overwhelmingly positive.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Conversations with one participant, Christine from Metlakatla, a community of the Tsimshian people, inspired two line-drawn orca whales featured in the mural, in part as a representation of indigeneity, separation, reconnection and migration, as well as to honour her late brother. When the team asked for permission to add the orcas to the mural, Chow said that Christine agreed and told her, \u201cevery time I walk by [the mural], I\u2019m going to feel like I belong here.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
Another community member relayed to Chow that the bridge, in particular, is a potent site for a piece of artwork like this. \u201cA lot of people come here\u2026 when the weight of the world feels like too much and contemplate ending it on this bridge,\u201d said Chow, adding. \u201cHe said he felt like this is really going to help.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
While Chow is cautious to claim that a mural has that kind of power, she said that throughout this process, \u201cit really dawned on me, hearing from the neighbours that stayed with us through this project, how impactful it is to see ourselves reflected in public art in our neighbourhood\u2026 It\u2019s a sign that we exist, a memory of our combined belonging.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
For those who wish to take in the new mural, it will likely remain on the Grandview-Woodland Bridge for the foreseeable future. Because it is safe from the wear-and-tear of car tires, Chow said the city estimated it should last for at least the next seven years. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Chow is currently working to establish plans with the Grandview-Woodland Council for a regular refresh of the mural.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cCreating sites of encounter is really important\u2026 seeing that people in my neighbourhood did this and that people are capable of amazing things every day.\u201d She added, \u201cSomething really remarkable happened [with this project], and I\u2019m still trying to really understand it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n