New mural unveiled in Winnipeg's West End

Community members gathered at the mural unveiling on Dec. 1, 2024. (Dan Timmerman/CTV News Winnipeg)

A new mural that captures the heart and soul of the city’s South Valour community was unveiled Sunday afternoon.

The mural, titled “Gathering Light: Capturing Community,” is a collaboration between the South Valour Residents Association and local artist Sarah Crawley. It was created in partnership with the Winnipeg Arts Council’s “With Art” program.

The association is relatively new – only getting up and running in the last few years.

“We were started in the pandemic and we were struggling to figure out what our identity as community was,” said Rachel Andrushuk, one of the association’s founding members. “And so we took the opportunity of this project to figure out what it meant to live in South Valour and what our version of community meant to us.”

The artwork includes two photo-collage panels at the Isaac Brock Community Centre, as well a trail plaque at Omand’s Creek.

“We worked with alternative photography methods such as pinhole photography and lumen printing,” said Crawley in an interview with CTV News. “So all the images on the two murals behind me are made with photographic processes, all analog, so nothing digital.”

Organizers said the project has been two years in the making. Community members of all ages have been heavily involved in creating the artwork to ensure it reflects the neighbourhood and all it has to offer.

“We also were trying to find ways to bring community members together out of their homes, doing something really beautiful and taking notice of all the beauty that already existed around us in our neighbourhoods,” Andrushuk said.

Andrushuk also said the mural offers a sense of belonging to everyone who passes by.

“I think it's beautiful. I think it's awesome. I love that it's here in the playground so that children can see some art as they grow up just in their own neighborhood,” she said.

People can check out the mural near the Valour Community Centre at 715 Telfer St. N.