YYC Bump

This mural explores the significance of the use of raw hides and the buffalo to the Calgary region. The relationship between human and buffalo is highly valued by First Nations people on the Western North American plains and also has a place in the iconography of romanticized western culture. The concept was developed with guidance by the Blackfoot Crossing Historical Museum on Siksika Nation West of Calgary, where we learned about the multiple uses of buffalo from sustenance to storytelling in the practices of Blackfoot people. The final composition was developed using photographs taken during visits with local leather workers inspiring the organic composition which in its application to modern concrete architecture aims to presents a symbolic and layered meaning through a blank canvas for storytelling and an open interpretation of the viewer.

Through the consultation process artists Guido van Helten and Kay Gallivan consulted with the museum director Stephen Yellow Old Woman on an inclusive approach to creating a painted homage to first nations cultural heritage which can also more generally be seen as significant Canadian culture. The leather textile creates a dynamic scene which utilises the space interpreting these themes into its conceptual message.