Greetings from Edmonton
Local street artist Adrian A.J.A. Louden painted a homage to Edmonton in his latest postcard style mural on the Tirecraft Open Source Street Art wall. A.J.A. shares the meaning for each letter below.
The first E represents our events and festivals, like Cypher Wild, Hip Hop in the Park, Fringe, Kaleido, Heritage Days, and so many more, including YEGfest which starts tonight! These events build culture and community, and Edmonton wouldn't be the same without them. In the top I have a cropped wildstyle YEG, and below, the classic theatre masks, some chess board / F1 flag pattern (see what I did there? lol) and the Cypher Wild logo, designed a few years back by yours truly.
The D shows a view of downtown when looking across the river from the Muttart. I love the city's strange fixation with pyramids. The Muttart is a super inspiring place as well - I got to see (smell) the corpse flower in bloom this year!! Look it up, it's a super trippy plant (warms itself up at night and makes a stank garbage smell so that bugs think its a dead body. Then the crawl onto it and end up pollinating for it. Really tho.)
The M represents Edmonton's First Nations community and heritage. I painted a portrait of Gary Moostoos - he's the man! Gary is someone who builds community in the city. He's a local Elder, and I always see him with the youth at almost every event in the downtown core, whether it's CypherWild YEG every Thursday in Churchill (6-9pm, free, all ages) or at events like the screening of the YEG Youth Action Plan on Poverty documentary by the homie David No. All that, and one time he got kicked out of City Center Mall for literally no reason (it's a wack story). They later apologized, but not after again exposing an undercurrent of racism towards Aboriginal people that still runs deep in our province and country. Edmonton is settled on Treaty 6 territory, home to the Papaschase people. There is an unfinished story here that is worth looking into - the Papaschase have been historically exploited around here and it's an issue that's often ignored. Edmonton also has a long history as a medicine trading place for First Peoples, so I painted a Cree medicine wheel, and some water to represent the importance of the North Saskatchewan running through here.
The first O is for oil - love it or hate it, it's a huge part of our identity as a city, at least right now. Whether or not you work directly in the oil industry, simply by living in Edmonton (or Alberta really, or actually Canada) you are probably benefiting (and thus having some complicit role in the associated costs and risks) from the revenues accrued by the natural resources we export, oil included (Note the big oily dollar sign). This is especially true in Edmonton!
The first N is for the amazing, beautiful, natural side of Edmonton, which you can find awesome parks and spots all over the city, but the River Valley is what's really good if you ask me. Magpies and rabbits. If you live here, you know.
The T represents the sense of community we often seem to feel as a city when major sports events are going down. I'm not a huge hockey guy, but when the Oilers are in the playoffs it's definitely going down. Teams like the U of A Golden Bears definitely throw down too, and keep up that 'City of Champs' vibe we had going when the Oilers, um, miss the mark for a few years (a lot of years).
The second O is for the music scene in this city - I love it!! Three of my favourite Edmonton bands right now are The Liberators, The Physical Copies, and Tzadeka. I love catching Elton Self Francis, DeKazzeur MoMega, and Oozee La freestyling at Cypher and other events around town - those guys are world class!! There are a ton of other great bands in town too. I'm so pumped to catch Mitch Holtby's set at YEGfest tonight (at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park, where I'll also be painting live, tickets are only $20 for tonight, there are several more bands too, and there are beer gardens and food - starts at 5pm and goes till 10pm, google YEGfest).
The last N is for food. Pho, specifically. If you like Vietnamese food, and you should, then you will love Edmonton. Our pho game is rock solid. I have my favourite joints in town, and whether it's a big bowl of pho (Vietnamese soup style), some lemongrass chicken on vermicelli, or a banh mi it's hitting the spot every time. I put a baby bowl of pho in the N cause I just wanted a snack at the time, not the full meal deal. The only thing I forgot was the green onion cakes!! *wink emoticon*
You may have noticed that there is no snow depicted in the entire painting. When it's summer here I pretend snow doesn't exist. It's summer here still right? Let's not mention this again.
What does Edmonton mean to you? What would you want to see inside the letters? Join the discussion with A.J.A. on his post… facebook.com/adrian.louden/