The Bulkley Valley District Hospital was recently given a new splash of colour.
Last year, the Bulkley Valley Community Arts Council (BVCAC) and the Northern Health Agency reached out to the community for ideas on what should be painted.
The Raven-Tacuara Art Collective submitted its design and was approved to paint the mural.
BVCAC Vice President Nikki Skuce described what the council was looking for.
“Part of it had to reflect the Northern Health propriety of helping people and helping comminutes. I think both of us also have an interest in supporting Indigenous artists as well.”
Raven-Tacuara artist Fucando Gastiazoro said he was teaching a course about muralism at the University of Victoria.
“The process we do with the collective is to take photos of the building and then take all the cables and windows on a higher layer so we can create the design around it.”
He used the opportunity to teach how he creates murals to the students, which he also used as part of the submitted design.
Work on the mural was started on June 1st and was completed last week.
The main part of the mural is two humanoid figures hugging which Gastiazoro said was inspired partly by his Latin heritage.
“It’s a hospital. They need to offer togetherness, hugging, and the personal contact. So that’s how we came up with the hug.”
Also on the collective team is Stephanie Anderson, Amanda Hugon, and Travis Hebert, who are all of Indigenous decent.
The team also created the mural on the Bulkley Valley Regional Pool and Recreation Centre titled Kid in da Pool.
Skuce said she enjoyed working with Raven-Tacuara on creating the hospital mural.
“It’s been easy, and we’ve received so much amazing feedback from the public.”