By Cheryl Jahn

Artwork adorns seniors’ housing

Mar 17, 2023 | 3:06 PM

PRINCE GEORGE – It is a new unique piece of art that everyone can appreciate as they drive up Winnipeg Street.

It adorns the seniors assisted living complex managed by the Aboriginal Housing Society. And has been part of the original planning of the facility.

“So we wanted to include the artwork before too much stuff got done,” explains Ruby Baptiste, Acting Executive Director of the Aboriginal Housing Society. “We didn’t want to have to backtrack and say, ‘Oh, we should’ve done this or did that.’ So when they were developing and constructing everything, they knew that there was going to be artwork going there. And we did have to include IDL and all of that discussion as well, because we had to know what are our constraints to, right?”

The artist, Damian John is from the Tl’azt’en First Nation in Fort St. James, meaning he is familiar with the history of the region.

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“Part of this art piece is it has the Nechako and the Fraser coming together in a central kind of way,” he explains. “You can see it if you look close. And so I was working with that idea and then it was just a process of building out a design, showing it to the group, having them be like, okay, we, we like that.”

A special committee made up of Lheidli T’enneh members was established to choose the artist and having someone familiar with the region played a role in the final decision. “We wanted to keep it local and we wanted to really include that late vision in the artwork as well,” said Baptiste. “And he was open to listening to that and designing our vision of that concept, I guess, from the artists that submitted. Most of them were local, so it was easier to make that decision.”

And there will a second piece of art from a different artist on a second building within the complex.

“I think having an Indigenous art really highlighted, whether it’s my own or anybody else’s, is an important component of that decolonizing space. And to have that be in a pretty prominent area in town feels like a good move in that direction.”

John says the art and the colour palette for this particular piece of art was inspired by the northern lights, a beloved natural event in Northern BC.