In Montreal, twenty artists put the final brushstroke on Wednesday July 15 at a huge fresco "Black Lives Matter", painted in its French translation "The life of blacks counts": an initiative presented as a world first.
Read also: Black Lives Matter: an alley in Toronto tagged entirely in black and gray in homage to George Floyd
The mural, about 100 meters long, echoes similar achievements in English, notably in Washington and New York which followed the death of George Floyd, an African-American suffocated by a white policeman in Minneapolis on the 25th. last May.
The Montreal project was erected for the whole summer in support of the black communities and their demands, according to the organizers. The giant colored letters were inscribed on the tar of rue Sainte-Catherine, pedestrian during the summer season, in the center of the metropolis of Quebec.
“Racism crosses borders”
“The idea came because we saw the first fresco that was done, it was in Washington, and it immediately caught our attention as a message. It was still quite strong ” , explained to AFP Carla Beauvais, co-founder of the Dynasty foundation, at the origin of the project. This association supports people from the black community in the media, arts and culture. "Racism, disparities, it crosses borders," she added.
Niti Marcelle Mueth, artistic coordinator of the project, drew an open eye, at the heart of the "i", yellow and orange, of the word "life". “As my t-shirt says,“ stay woke ”, this is a message that is important to me because it is important to stay awake, to stay alert and aware of the problems we are experiencing personally but also problems in society, ” explained the artist.
Mask on the face, the mayor of Montreal Valérie Plante went to see the fresco, almost completed in the middle of the afternoon. "Well done for your work," she said to the artists, most of whom were also masked.
Montreal is the epicenter of the pandemic in Quebec, a province which itself identified more than half of the 108,000 cases of coronavirus in the country.
After the death of George Floyd, tens of thousands of people demonstrated in major Canadian cities, including Montreal, against racism and police violence, also denouncing racial discrimination in the French-speaking province of Quebec.
To read also: Systemic racism: "all institutions" affected in Canada
In early June, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau participated in a demonstration in Ottawa, kneeling on the ground during the 8 minutes 46 seconds of George Floyd's ordeal.
