I was excited to discover your theme for this year’s festival, because it seems over the past few years of making art and murals,

I’ve been drawn to water as a force, a symbol and an aesthetic.

In the spirit of alignment, I would like to share with you a sketch that I made in a call for proposals this past summer for a wall produced by Mu in Montréal, with the theme Social Justice. The design was very well received by Mu and the clients, but ultimately we went back to zero and won the contract with a new design called CRUX.

Mu asked if they might find a new wall for this design in 2020, but nothing is committed. I share this mainly to show my capacity to design with the theme in mind and my interest in water’s connection to us and its ability to convey almost any emotion. If you decide you would like to work together for Up Here 6,

I would love to really dive into the theme and take a crack at something more dynamic, but I am open to refining this idea as well.

Upstream.

Upstream is a piece dedicated to all people who have walked steady against the current.

It aims to illustrate the many social, emotional, political and economic forces a person faces when they decide to speak up for what’s right against the status quo. Water to me is a perfect representation of power. When it flows gently or is offered, it brings life. Yet redirected, it can be a force of destruction. Initially I was drawn to the classic image of a fishing boat dwarfed by an ocean storm, but quickly I began to see a boat give too much protection and mobility. Most people facing these kinds of forces would be privileged to have one.

The reality in so many cases is that fighting for what’s right is a slow, strenuous march against a flood of pressures.

The only way to stay standing is to walk together.

Visually, I wanted there to be a clear contrast between the marchers and the water. My mural work tends to be very colourful, but I also work in a minimal black and white style that seemed perfect to represent the overwhelming current. This leaves the marchers free to explore colour fully and sometimes unexpectedly. I wanted to represent a diverse group of people marching together, drawing both from the history of social justice and current events. Time and space folded just this once to create a snapshot where, hopefully, passers-by can see themselves represented in parts or entirely in this small group.