By: Devana Petrovic, Staff Writer
The Granville Loop Tunnel Street Art Gallery
Location: Granville Loop Park
Artists: Alternating local artists
The Granville Tunnel Street Art Gallery is a hidden exhibit found in the dark pedestrian passway under the Granville Street Bridge. Created by Stephanie Brook in 2018, this project has engaged local street artists in temporarily muralling the tunnel walls. Chosen artists are given a year to display their work before they are painted over, allowing for new local artists’ murals.
Growing up in that neighborhood, the Granville Street underpass always had a gloomy reputation for being constantly trashed and poorly lit. Since the project’s appearance, the dirty grey walls of this unpopular tunnel have become vibrant with colour, creativity, and artistic expression. Projects like this reflect the changing essence of the South Granville area, where there is a growing interest in displaying public art. Murals in particular are progressively occupying several walls of this neighborhood.
Maintenance of the underpass has significantly improved since this project came into action. Plus, passing through a sketchy underground tunnel has never been more intriguing.
Blanketing The City Part I: The Pillars of the Granville Street Bridge
Location: Under the Granville St. Bridge, Granville Island
Artist: Debra Sparrow
In collaboration with the Vancouver Mural Festival, this mural is part of a larger project known as Blanketing The City, where traditional Coast Salish textile patterns are muralled onto large, visible, and heavily-trafficked surfaces, such as this one that stands proudly on the pillars of the Granville Street Bridge and in the centre of Granville Island.
The mural celebrates the resilience of Indigenous people — its vibrant colours and eye-drawing location serves as a reminder for both locals and tourists of the people who’s land we are on. It is a commemoration of Coast Salish culture in one of the most touristic spots in Vancouver that honours the strength of all Indigenous people in preserving their traditions. Tourists swarm to Granville Island all year round to experience what Vancouver has to offer, and Sparrow’s piece is a bold public display of the reappearance of Coast Salish cultural appreciation. Frankly, this is exactly what Granville Island needs more of.
Paradise Has Many Gates
Location: Vanier Park
Artist: Ajlan Gharem
This piece, located in Kitsilano’s Vanier Park, overlooks the West End and its mountainous background. Paradise Has Many Gates was launched for the 2018–20 Vancouver Biennale exhibition and is by Saudi Arabian artist, Ajlan Gharem, who created the transparent chain-link mosque to promote Saudi contemporary art around the world.
The Kitsilano area is generally quite lacking in artistic diversity, particularly in contemporary artworks of this sort, and is also scarce in any representation of Islamic culture. Therefore, it seems an unlikely location to find such a piece. Yet, with its interesting concept, it certainly draws people to investigate and learn more about the artistic purpose behind it.
If anything, this piece has given the people of Kitsilano something to admire and think about.
The Present Is A Gift
Location: 22539/2549 Main Street
Artists: Drew Young and Jay Senetchko
A Vancouver Mural Festival piece, this mural is found on two large surfaces of a building in the Mount Pleasant neighborhood. With its colourful complexion, vast circumference, and wholesome message, this artwork is impossible to miss.
The mural consists of two portraits of neighborhood residents: a young girl who was born and grew up in the neighbourhood, and an optometrist, who has been working at the local optometrist office for over 60 years. The mural represents the heart and soul of the Mount Pleasant area: the community and residents themselves.
The Present Is a Gift is a beautiful landmark for this neighborhood and is worth taking a couple minutes to admire if you ever stumble across the piece.
