The City of Richmond announced last week the completion of a new, one-of-a-kind art project in the City Centre area.
St. Alban Anglican Church’s Peace Labyrinth Mural, by artist Joey Mallet, is the first outdoor mural commissioned through the city’s Public Art Program, which contributed $10,000.
Mallet said the mural will liven up an otherwise dull outdoor space for church goers and people who use the church’s many programs.
“I was inspired to reproduce the seraph (a celestial being) with nine eyes for vision, in each wing, copied from one of Chartres Cathedral’s stained glass windows, said Mallet, in a news release from the city.
The Chartres Cathedral is a medieval Catholic cathedral located in Chartres, France, about 80 kilometres southwest of Paris.
“I created his companion playing music to bookend the rose window, which contains the central message, ‘You Are Here,’ with its circle reflecting the labyrinth below,”`she added. “The shape of the entire mural is intentionally solid, bold and grounded, to hold the space. Enter. Reflect. Peace. I hope this mural brings attention to the labyrinth and will invite people to walk it.”
The mural, located at the corner of St. Alban’s and Bennett roads is situated next to the church’s small peace labyrinth, which is used as a gathering place by church members and passersby as a “contemplative” public space.
Fewer people may be expected to take in the mural with the recent closure of the church’s drop-in centre for homeless and low-income Richmond residents. St.Alban’s had previously opened its doors daily to provide services such as computer access, connections to social services and meals, however, volunteers, church leaders and workers said they became overburdened as a result of underfunding.
The drop-in centre is expected to be relocated elsewhere in City Centre, but there is no set timeline, to date, according to Turning Point Recovery Society, which was given a new provincial grant to manage it.
