The Georgia Straight

Diversity at Vancouver Mural Festival puts a new face on public art

While the alleyways, parks, and brick walls where public art lives may appear more inclusive than prestigious galleries, pristine admission-required museums, and other stuffy suit-and-tie venues, there remains disparity in the people that are—and aren’t—permitted in such spaces. This inequality in traditional art has long been criticized, and manifests itself in the dismal number of women, people of colour, and those who identify as LGBT, among other groups, in mainstream art and culture. And it’s a concern that this year’s Vancouver Mural Festival curators kept at the forefront of their minds when putting together the artist lineup.