Appreciating The Murals In St. James Town

By Jabin Haque
(Jabin is a youth journalist with the FOCUS Media Arts Centre)

Over the past years, the murals and art in St. James Town kept expanding, making it easy to spot paintings and art everywhere.   But why should people care about the murals, and what makes them so important? 

St. James Town is a highly dense population with many significant murals surrounding the community, but not many residents acknowledge or appreciate the amazing art in the neighbourhood and how representative these murals are of the neighbourhood.

Community murals give light and positively to an urban neighbourhood full of high-rises and lacking in green spaces, like the St. James Town neighbourhood. In St. James Town you can notice murals in different areas including around the schools as children pass by, the Wellesley buildings, the grocery stores, restaurants, and many more places. Just by observing the community closely you realize how much of an energetic and vibrant impact murals are.

The murals in St. James Town serve as a visual representation of the connections and stories expressed and told in the community. They create a unique and creative outlook for area residents and visitors and help them to feel welcome and safe.   

One of the most significant murals that exists in St. James Town is the Phoenix that is located on the wall of the 200 Wellesley Street building.   The Phoenix is now the second tallest mural in the world but once was known as the first. The Phoenix mural was created after a horrific fire in 2010 where thousands of residents were forced to leave their apartments. The artist, Sean  Martindale, along with the youth he worked with, decided on the idea of a Phoenix rising up from ashes and flying into the sky.  The Phoenix symbolizes the positivity in the community.

“ They wanted it to be something colourful that would be a symbol for their diverse and vibrant community to combat the negative ("dark", "grey", "dirty", "dangerous") stigma they felt was unfairly attached to the neighbourhood.”      - Sean Martindale

On the school wall of Rose Avenue Public School lays another important mural representing the community’s diversity and people’s strong relationship with each other. The mural’s illustrations depict a cow, a mosque, and a Christmas tree expressing the diversity of religion’s that resident’s worship in St. James Town, such as Hinduism, Islam and Christianity. The mural also shows people wearing tradition cultural clothes symbolizing the different ethnic groups in the community. The high-rise buildings in the mural’s background are representative of the high-rise buildings of St. James Town, and the images of families and friends enjoying their time playing in the park or flying a kite are a portrayal of the family centred community. 

The murals in St. James Town, do a great job in representing the community’s highly diverse population, culture and religion. The murals serve as a visual storytelling medium for the neighbouhood and its residents. It’s important to take a step back and acknowledge the art around the neighbour that gives colour and livelihood to the community!