As eager as I am to be in Paris and Rome again (especially to see and hug the overseas family members) there’s still much to enjoy right here, in the neighbourhood. For example, I could finish the walk we began here to see the murals added in my corner of Vancouver (Mount Pleasant) during this year’s Mural Festival.
The three murals I walked you to in that earlier post are clustered fairly close together, west of my home. From that cluster, I walked south perhaps a kilometre to see the richly saturated colours of this delicious, restaurant-wrapping mural by @PhilPhil.Studio, the studio of two obviously talented sisters.
Honestly, I see myself walking past that mural regularly throughout our rainy season here (even this summer’s unprecedented drought and heat wave is unlikely to budge our reputation as Rain City).
And when it’s too wet and windy to walk, I might find myself playing this little video clip again, on repeat, simply for the exuberance and the summer vibes. Seriously, just opening Phil Phil Studio’s Instagram page is a mood-booster, but that making-of video is accompanied by music that brings the Happy! Ditto for this one, also a making-of, from earlier in the project. . .
Those videos also provide a good demonstration of just how physical mural-making is. Imagine clambering onto an electrical box ro paint these dazzling colours, integrating the disruptive protrusion into the wall. . .
The play of art against the industrial, functional realities of large electrial boxes is a good part of what attracts me to these many varied pieces that enliven our city. Painted on such hard-working, down-to-earth materials as cinderblocks, the murals co-exist with cracked asphalt, rows of recycling bins, street litter . . .
And they both complement, and distract us from, their surroundings. . . how I love those orange swoops. . .
More juicy colour, a few blocks away . . .
And we can solve that mystery of the word beginning with “C”. . .
A very relevant word for all of us these days, I think you’ll agree. . .
Are you still guessing? Don’t cheat! Don’t look ahead!
Too late? You couldn’t stop your eyes from scanning? . . .
When I went to @thattallgirlariel’s Instagram page to find out more about this mural, I found a very recent post explaining the inception of the mural: the artist volunteers with a Mental Health program for young adults, and was asked to design and implement a mural for their program, a mural that subsequently was included in the VMF.
She writes, in that post, that these young adults “chose the word courage because it represents their journeys through mental health challenges, their resiliency, and the hope that fills them with a passion I rarely see.” She comments that “we all face adversity, and one big reason they chose this word is so that people walking by may be filled with hope as well. These young adults are amazing and I am so lucky I get to continue hanging out with them.”
What a statement the mural makes in a not particularly attractive setting. . .
Asphalt and billboards
and chain-link fencing cannot drab down the cheery and uplifting encouragement (See what I did there? Because that word “encouragement” is about helping to put the “courage” in someone. One of the more important ways we can help make life a bit easier for each other.)
So let me pass along all the encouragement I find in the cheer of these two murals, all the hope and passion that I see in all the murals around my town, put there to brighten our paths or just to make us think, to make connections between one human’s impressions and another’s. Only connect. Only encourage. . . Bon courage, mes amis! Strong hearts! (coeur/ heart, at the heart of the word “”courage”).
Perhaps let me know what you’re gathering courage for right now or what has you needing encouragement from others. Sometimes it’s just for getting through a busy day, preparing to host a dinner for a daughter’s in-laws (1000 square foot condo, dinner for six adults plus an Eight and a Six). Sometimes it’s waiting for the results of a biopsy; Sometimes it’s waiting through Days 8, 9, and 10 of a Seven-year-old’s self-isolation after exposure to you-know-what. But it’s also, sometimes, just getting through one more lonely afternoon in a new city — or without a beloved, departed spouse; or wondering why a certain friend hasn’t called for so long, or, sometimes, just feeling low and not understanding why. And sometimes, sometimes, just acknowledging that we need encouragement is a first step to building that courage for ourselves. So have away, readers. . . Plenty of room for your words in the Comments section below. Rain them down, if it would help, rain them down as the skies are currently raining now “an atmospheric river” on my city. . . We’ll hear you. . . Bon courage!
Thanks for that last paragraph especially. Very well stated and so true. We all need strength for the journey – sometimes more than other times.
Author
Sometimes, even just imagining a hand to hold. . .
Hear, hear. Sometimes the mental girding of the loins is extremely lowering to the spirits, especially if you feel it is a long-term project. That’s why suddenly spotting the small chinks of light is so meaningful. I am a big fan of murals and of graffiti, as it happens, especially on London tube trains. It seems so exuberant and hopeful, a deliberate shout-out. As opposed to modern public statuary which can be so banal that it saps the spirit with its insistence on appealing to the lowest common denominator. But that’s a mutter for another time. On we go.
Author
Exactly — those small rays, at the right time, can make all the difference.
Love the vibrant colours in those murals and the implied (or stated) messages. They bring such vitality to the area.
Wouldn’t say I am gathering courage today (though maybe I should)…more like gathering energy for my trip as I depart tonight.
Author
And by now, you’ll perhaps be there. Hope the flight, border negotiation, etc. all went well. And now, a marvellous adventure awaits — all those plans coming to fruition. Enjoy!
The murals are a wonderful project for your city! Thank you for sharing.
Author
You’re very welcome!
It does take courage to live the human life. Complexity and complications abound.
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Well said — no argument from me. . .
Always enjoy your city’s lively street art – so vibrant and engaging.
After 106 days of quite strict lockdown I’m gathering courage to re-engage with the world. We’ve done it before and we’ll be fine, but it’s weird to be able to do a lot of things that were forbidden for so long. I found the most recent lockdown harder than previous ones. I was quite unmotivated and it was difficult to cheer myself up. however, my spirits rose along with our vaccination rates and I became giddy at the thought of more freedom. Slowly, slowly things are improving as I hope they are in any other places.
Author
So hard to move back into and then again out of those stricter lockdowns — and 106 days of such constricted living, really tough! I’m glad to see that your vaccination rates are climbing now and I suspect you’ll adjust to the new freedom with caution at first, but then with alacrity. Best wishes for that adjustment!
The murals are great! Encouragement does come from within. I’ve been uninspired with the idea of returning to substitute teaching at this point and I’m not sure what will replace that contact with younger people (especially children). My sister is expecting her first grandchild and I’m thinking of what a great time I would have had sharing stories and fun with little ones. Children have always been part of my life. At almost 70, I need a new focus. Rainy days will pass (next year) and we will give ourselves whatever push we need to get going. I just heard “atmospheric river” last night. We’re going to Vancouver Island tomorrow for some storm watching.
Author
I can imagine it being very hard to step away from that kind of meaningful contact with little ones. I also imagine that you will find your way to sharing your gifts and making those connections in other ways. Covid is obscuring many of the possibilities right now, but they may yet emerge. I should say that even as a grandmother of 6, I can see ahead the horizon at which mine will no longer be small (only one left now who still has all the baby teeth) and also will no longer be as available to spend time with Nana. . . It seems to me that time rushed through this second set of childhoods even more quickly than it ripped through the first round . . .
Enjoy your storm-watching!! Stay dry! (well, do your best to warm up afterward, at any rate 😉
I remember in those first difficult days of lockdown, in the later Winter and early Spring of 2020 there were signs posted all around the local park with words of encouragement, telling us that this will pass and that we need to love one another. I did draw some strength from it, and seeing everyone, whole families, walking, distanced and masked, walking together. Sometimes things just seem like too much, you feel hopeless. And helpless. The division in my country, the continued and unrelenting damage to our planet, the disease which will not quit. It is them I have to focus on whatever in front of me is still beautiful, on those around me can love more fully. The gifts of an ordinary day. I enjoyed seeing the murals, and the message they convey. I worked for years with the mentally ill, so I know of the struggle. And thank you for being so generous with sharing your world, the externals and the internal.
Author
I remember those signs as well, and although it would have been easy enough to dismiss them (superficial, even banal), I, too, took encouragement from them — that collective will to reach out was reassuring, and then it was often buttressed by more sustained, meaningful acts and signs (on the bulletin board in our condo mailbox area, contacts for whomever might need help picking up groceries, for example)
This phrase “the gifts of an ordinary day” I like very much. Thank you. And also thanks for your kind and encouraging words.
Your photos and words were heartening on a dreary, lonely day. I look forward to seeing those murals in person when I visit my son in November.
Frances in Sidney
Author
I’m pleased to know that, Frances. Thank you.
I noticed the Burgoo restaurant sign on the top photo and immediately knew where this was located. It’s very near to where our Vancouver kids rented a house. Have you eaten at the restaurant? Best mac and cheese I’ve had!
This entire post, but particularly the last paragraph is beautifully written and so apt for our current time, or really, any time. Bon courage!
Author
I’ve heard that they do very good “comfort food” there, Lorrie, but I haven’t ever eaten there — sounds as if I should!
Thanks for the kind and encouraging words — I do think we need all the courage we can lend each other 😉
Wonderful murals! Frances,you are my mural whisperer!
They have such a strenght,so colourful and powerful,vitraux and frescoes of our time….
Courage….yes, both support and the question,so appropriate for our time…any time indeed….
Beautiful word play-I like this post very much
Dottoressa
Author
I love it, Dottoressa — going to have visiting cards printed up The Mural Whisperer 😉
And this idea that they’re the “vitraux and frescoes of our time.” Yes!