The tunnels beneath St. Boniface Hospital are now brighter and more colourful with the completion of a 300-foot mural.
The tunnels are used by 17,000 individuals annually and connect the various hospital buildings. Commissioned by Artists in Health Care, Natalie Baird and Toby Gillies created the mural “Outside Light” to bring joy to a place that often felt dark and disorienting.
“They were really excited to have a mural in that space,” explains Gillies. “Staff, patients, families, everyone recognized for years and years that space needed something…It was a scary tunnel, it was. It was three hundred feet with bends, and you couldn’t see the end or beginning of it, and there were no exits or windows.”
Artists in Health Care brings visual artists and musicians to hospitals across Manitoba. Before the pandemic, Baird and Gillies were discussing creating this mural, but with the lockdowns, things fell through. When it became clear the project could now be completed, Baird and Gillies enlisted outpatients from the McEwen psychiatry program to help design and paint the mural.
“In a lot of our projects, we want to make sure that if the artwork is in a public space like that, it is reflective of the people who are using that space and maybe have direct experience with that space. And it felt like an opportunity to give back.” She continues, “For the artists they shared, it was a positive experience for them to come back in this very positive, colourful, exciting way.” “In a place they described as the last time they were there, it was the hardest time of their lives,” adds Gillies.
The title “Outside Light” was chosen because of the mural’s creation process. Baird, Gillies, and the other artists wanted to transform the tunnel’s disorienting and strange feeling into something positive. Since McEwen is situated along the Red River, they considered bringing the energy and feeling of the path along the river inside.
“One day, we spent time just down by the river, and we were tracing shadows and dappled light that was coming through the trees,” says Gillies. “We took those shapes and made some other drawings with shadows. We cut them out, collaged them, and made this big blast of colour.”
They then cut these into thin strips, which became a scaled version of what would be painted in the tunnel. Most important for Baird and Gillies was that all artists were paid for their contributions. With funding from the Manitoba Arts Council, they could do so.
Baird and Gillies say responses to the new mural have been incredibly positive. One staff member from the hospital event commented that having worked there for 15 years is now excited to see the tunnels.
The two artists now look ahead to the Flash Photography Festival, which will be held across Winnipeg. They are collaborating with the Buhler Gallery at Saint Boniface Hospital to curate an exhibition featuring patient artwork from the McEwen program.
– Ryan Funk, U Multicultural
