TIMMINS - Walls all over the city could be getting a splash of colour next summer.
The second phase of the mural project is in the very early stages, and the City of Timmins Indigenous Advisory Committee heard about the potential plans going forward at its Nov. 20 meeting.
“The premise is places and spaces that are accessible,” said Coun. Kristin Murray, who has spearheaded the initiative since 2018.
So far, 16 murals have gone up with funding from the city and the Ontario Arts Council. For phase two, the project will be looking for other funding pathways.
Murray said she is in contact with Mique Michelle, the artist who headed up the murals for the first round, and they’re working out consent agreements regarding images of the murals.
“I’ve engaged the artist again to see if she’s interested,” she said. “We hope to have more awareness, photos, and consents signed because I have a lot of photos, but because I was working with Misiway at the time, I don’t have the consent to share a lot of those images.”
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The focus is once again on connecting youth to the work like the first phase did when the works included lessons from Indigenous communities and elders.
“It’s been really well received, and the cultural piece for the youth, just to see how engaged they were, I’m hoping to have that again,” she said.
Tours of the first phase murals are still available if people ask, said Murray.
“I still do the walking tours when people request, and it’s important to continue to transfer that knowledge,” she said.
The mural project started in 2018 after the city was visited by Ontario Human Rights commissioner Renu Mandhane, who said racism appeared to be normalized in the city.
Putting Indigenous images in public and accessible locations is meant to honour the Indigenous people in the area.
Murray said public consultation will occur in the spring of 2025, and the next murals should start going up in summer 2025.
“We like to have the project starting once the weather gets nice,” she said.
