Description
Michelle and her grandchildren Quest and Essence walked by the NEC parking lot when Marissa Nahanee was creating a community mural that they contributed to.
Transcript
Here we are at NEC, that has all of these memories for many people as a place where they started their post-secondary education and that design and the architect in the front is part of the loveliness, but we would always pass by through the sort of wooded area, have a barrier to think about Cease Wyss, planting those plants, and then over here, it was just a boring space of just a boring parking lot for the longest time.
And one day I came along here with my two grandkids and we saw Marissa Nahanee and several artists putting up this huge mural installation. And not only were they doing the major part of the mural, they also had paint and brushes available for community members to add their element. And so, because those two kids were small. Essence and Quest were, I think, eight and six at the time. We had a spot that was very close to the ground to put our little design and their initials. And so when I would walk through here after that moment, I would always stop and just think about that. And, it was a fantastic community project.
So I have a certain feeling of kind of mourning and melancholy when I come here and think of all that work by all those people and all that dynamic, powerful colour and Indigenous design that is now a rust coloured bland, nothing again. I have that feeling of gratitude that I was part of that project and kind of a sad feeling about the loss of those powerful murals.
