Project: New St Paul Hospital Public Art - Wellness Walk

Project type: Public Art Competition

Position: Shortlisted Finalist

Year: 2023

Location: Vancouver

Combining Afrofuturism and ethnobotany, my artistic vision for the St. Paul’s Hospital Wellness Walk is a series of sculptural Moon Healing Garden gates made of rammed earth and stainless steel. The Moon plays a central role in sustaining life on Earth and provides Earth’s night light. Just like the rhythmic nature of the moon maintain the life cycles of many organisms while providing Earth’s night light, the moon healing gates on the wellness walk build on this notion of lightness and cyclical motion to frame a sculptural healing garden to uplift offer healing to the users of St Paul’s Hospital as they move across the site. The sculptural healing garden holds sacred African and Coast Salish plant beings in the form of steel plant patterns. This is an acknowledgment of the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Host Nations, as well as the recognition of the historical Black community of Hogan’s Alley. In addition, the concept of the moon gate is a recognition of adjacent Chinatown as these originates in Chinese traditions whereby a circular passageway is placed in a garden to act as a welcoming good fortune for those who pass through. The moon healing garden gates offer a healing journey by extending St. Paul’s Hospital values of health and wellness into the public realm.