Social-Wise Art on Sparks
- Sparks Street
- Oct 5, 2022
- 2 min read
As you make your way down Sparks Street, past the magical reflective colour spectrum of #Prismatica, between O'Connor and Bank Street, you will find the newest Art on Sparks. Thanks to a partnership with Ottawa Public Health (OPH), Sparks Street has become the new temporary home of a Social-Wise mural installation!
We are very excited to be hosting this fun and beautiful mural created by local talents, Kiara Whitney and Naylissah Aristide! The mural depicts 'Life in the City during COVID-19' and was one of the top 3 selected arts engaged to paint an 8X8 mural, to be displayed outdoors. OPH's call out to local artists relayed that, "The murals should reflect our current times of navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic and demonstrate creativity, vision and leadership." OPH stated, "The objective is to promote and raise awareness of our COVIDWise and Social-Wise campaigns."
Covid Mural in progress... by Kiara Whitney & Naylissah Aristide
Kiara and Naylissah, two young black artists, certainly delivered and describe the context of their mural being, “to congratulate essential workers for their courage of staying out there while the pandemic is in the midst, while also reminding the public to stay COVID-Wise.”
The mural will compliment the OPH's stencil campaign already chalked onto Sparks Street and be unveiled Thanksgiving long weekend this October! This engaging and fresh mural will add one more bucket list must-see item to your Sparks Stroll this fall. The exhibit will be on the street for two months and doubles as an artistic addition to the street as well as a reminder to stay safe and be Social-Wise while we all continue to navigate this pandemic together.
THE BIG REVEAL:
OPH strives to remind and encourage the public to socialize in a safe way through online social media education, outreach (stenciling campaign) and visual artwork in high traffic areas (murals).
Walking down Sparks last fall, I saw that Social-Wise mural between O’Connor and Bank, and it hit me harder than I expected—those two young Black artists captured exactly what 2020 felt like: essential workers exhausted but still showing up, and the rest of us trying to remember masks and distance without losing our minds. It made me stop, not just for a photo, but to actually feel grateful and tired at the same time. Funny thing is, after that walk, I went home and started messing around with 3D printing as a way to cope with the isolation—downloading files, learning to calibrate my printer. That’s when I found https://www.gambody.com/. Their game-inspired models gave me something focused to do with my…
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The installation was created through a partnership with Slither io Ottawa Public Health (OPH) under a campaign intended to raise awareness and support safe public‑health behaviors during the COVID‑19 pandemic.
I might check it out on Sparks Street. An 8x8 mural reminding us to stay safe? I wonder if it feels a bit like solving a tough one line draw puzzle, always trying to find the best path!
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