A Massive New Mural Series is Unveiled in East Village
Katie Green collaborated with East Village community members to let them share their stories on their own terms.
Photographed with his cat Prince Archie, Kevin created his blue mask because the colour
matched emotions he had been feeling. Photograph by Mariah Wilson.
If you’ve been walking, cycling or scooting along East Village’s RiverWalk recently, you may have seen a series of 16 murals cumulatively titled Bridge. If you haven’t had the chance to see them yet or simply want to learn more about them, you can attend an official unveiling event at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, August 20 with artist Katie Green in attendance.
The event ought to be a cathartic one for Green, given she spent around four months working on the project. The funny thing is, actually installing the murals was just a small fraction of the overall process. From recruiting collaborators for three intensive workshops to translating portraits into masks then photos then murals, Green’s process was rigorously mindful and as important as the murals themselves in genuinely reflecting East Village’s diverse and changing community.
Artist Katie Green is captured in front of her mural depicting East Village resident Dennis.
Photograph by Mariah Wilson.
Green is a multi-disciplinary artist and no stranger to creating murals. You can see her work all over the city, in other Canadian cities and internationally in places like Berlin and Taipei. In her work, murals serve a greater purpose than to simply beautify an empty space — she believes that murals must meaningfully represent the communities they exist in and engage viewers with respect.
“I think when you’re making public work, there’s a lot of back and forth. There’s a lot of different conversations that you have to have, or you’re always kind of navigating,” she says. “Who is this artwork for? How much of my artistic intent is important in this, but then also, who is it serving? And how do we meet in the middle?”
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