Inspire Festival’s largest mural to be painted by artist Wasp Elder

The Inspire Festival is preparing to create the largest mural ever seen in Moncton. A façade of the 11-storey Lafrance residence at the Université de Moncton will be the site of a huge 41-metre-high mural created by artist Wasp Elder.

This colossal mural by the Inspire Festival was made possible thanks to an initiative of the Fédération des étudiantes et des étudiants du campus universitaire de Moncton (FÉÉCUM) (Université de Moncton students’ union) and a partnership with the university.

The Festival solicited proposals from three artists based on a theme of their choice. In turn, the artists provided a mock-up to a committee made up of representatives from the FÉÉCUM as well as the university’s university relations department and visual arts department. The committee then made a recommendation to university management.

The selected work will represent a Mi'kmaq woman who lived in Nova Scotia – Molly Muise – whose photograph is one of the oldest known which shows an Indigenous community member. This major project will allow Moncton to rival some world capitals in the area of street art.

“We are thrilled to welcome Wasp Elder as part of our programming,” said Lisa Griffin and Matt Williston, co-founders of the Inspire Festival. “He is an international-calibre artist with a unique style. He has an engaged vision of art which is in perfect alignment with the activist way in which we see art. This mural is very exciting. It will be a project like none other in our city, which has very few large buildings. As well, we are very proud to be representing the Mi’kmaq community. The building’s location facing Wheeler Boulevard will allow us to show an image of openness and modernity as well as a positive message to those travelling around the city.”

The Université de Moncton’s Moncton campus was built on ancestral Mi’kmaq land. As well, Abbey François-Xavier Lafrance (1814-1867), for whom the building is named, knew the Mi’kmaq Indigenous people very well.

“We are pleased not only to be part of the Inspire Festival by offering the Lafrance residence as a canvas, but also pleased to show a representation of Molly Muise, a Mi’kmaq Indigenous woman,” said Raymond Théberge, President and Vice-Chancellor of the Université de Moncton. “We are pleased to celebrate their culture in this way. Last March, we also celebrated the Wela’lin Festival on the Moncton campus. The Festival was an opportunity for the members of the university community to meet and interact with members of First Nations.”

“Acadian and Indigenous histories are intermingled – and Acadian society must make much more of an effort to learn about the communities who have been our neighbours for more than four centuries,” said Maurice Basque, Scientific Advisor with the Institut d’études acadiennes (“Acadian Studies Institute”).

Initiated by past FÉÉCUM president Roxann Guerrette, the project will provide an opportunity to students to be an integral part of this new artistic movement. “We are very proud to see that this initiative is become a reality on our campus,” said Tristian Gaudet, President of the FÉÉCUM. “A mural of this size will give us the opportunity to add some life and colour to the university while also exposing students to a magnificent work of urban art.”

The Inspire Festival focuses on bringing together citizens of Greater Moncton around public art, either by artistic gatherings or through the creation of works for all to see.