Trinity Church Proposes New Mural
Telling the Truth: A Shared Journey Towards Reconciliation, Healing, and Hope
Four years ago, when the ice bucket challenge was making its rounds during the summer of 2014, Trinity Anglican Church transformed its boring graffiti-prone brown brick wall at 1230 Bank Street into a colorful mural. An artist was hired, and street-involved youth were invited to design and paint the mural. This caught the attention of the entire Ottawa South community, and thanks to its partnership with Ottawa Crime Prevention, House of Paint, and Ottawa Inner City Ministries, the project took shape. Using donated supplies, the artists painted the walls over several days. Each day, we provided and shared a meal and participated in fellowship while embracing the creativity of the street-involved youth. The unveiling of the wall drew media attention and our Councillor David Chernushenko, Mayor Jim Watson and Bishop John Chapman attended. The project was a huge success.
However, street art is ephemeral by its very nature. Trinity is now launching an initiative to paint a new mural that not only adds to the beauty of our community, but also showcases an important issue.
Telling the Truth: A shared journey toward Reconciliation, Healing and Hope was born out of a conversation I had with Michael Hanna during a concert at Trinity. Michael is the husband of The Rev. Cheryle Hanna, Fourth Avenue Baptist Church Glebe. While discussing the current mural, I expressed a desire for a new piece of art concerning Truth and Reconciliation with our Indigenous sisters and brothers. Back in 1994, then Archbishop Michael Peers issued an apology on behalf of all Anglicans for our role in the Indian residential school system. In June 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission released its findings and issued “94 Calls to Action” to “redress the legacy of residential schools and advance the process of Canadian reconciliation.” These were divided into two categories: “Legacy” and “Reconciliation.”
Although Michael commented that the project sounded interesting, I told him it was “more scary than interesting.” He then asked me what scared me. I answered “The truth!” at which point I decided to make this idea a reality. I bounced the theme off my new friend Melissa Hammell from Pinegum Studios, and it seemed to work.
Then I needed to pay for the project. I went first to the Trinity Church community and then the Anglican Diocese of Ottawa: the All My Relations granting body. I then reached out to donors, community groups, the Ottawa South Community Association, Mayor Jim Watson, Councillor David Chernushenko (one of the first donors) The Wabano Centre, and the list goes on…
After having such a positive experience with the first mural, I reconnected with street artist Mique Michell, a local Métis artist who travels across the country working with communities interested in cultural expression through art. Mique agreed to be our lead designer and facilitator for Telling the Truth: A shared journey towards reconciliation, healing and hope.”
Through my conversations with Melissa and Mique, we decided another component of the project will be to engage the talent of poets and artists from TR1BE Academy, led by award-winning community leader Justin Holness. TR1BE is a local music studio and online plat- form for Indigenous youth to share their music with the world. Justin and his team of local Indigenous youth artists have experience going to high schools to teach and talk about the true history of the residential schools legacy. Their creativity and expertise will animate the mural site as the wall is being painted. The mural is scheduled to be painted September 16–20. With a launch event Sunday, September 16th at our 10am worship service where Justin Holness will offer the homily followed by fellowship in the hall.
I hope that Old Ottawa South and the whole Ottawa community will benefit from the installation of the new mural. While the mural is being painted, the local community will be invited to participate in and benefit from listening to indigenous poetry and learning sessions. Trinity is grateful for the generous support of the grant from All My Relations working group.
Written by: Rev. Arran Thorpe, Incumbent, Trinity Anglican Church.
Originally published: Crosstalk, September 2018.
