Water Warriors

This piece of public art celebrates the strength of women as water warriors. The process in creating this piece started with a stroll through the Riverside community photographing local female pedestrians. Then I took those photos and digitally manipulated them, overlaying vintage Toronto maps of the region. These images were then printed on paper 12 feet high, later to be wheat pasted onto the wall. The painted moon cycle symbolizes the natural connections between women and the earth. Women’s bodies react to the shifting ebb and flow, women are the child bearers, the water protectors, the warriors. Here women find strength in one another and in Mother Earth.

About the Artist
Monica Wickeler (she/her) is a trained visual artist with roots in Luxembourg, who has worked in the large-scale painting industry in Toronto for over fifteen years in outdoor advertising as a mural artist, and in the film and television industry as a scenic artist. More recently she can be found reclaiming community spaces with her vibrant public art. She loves working together with Business Associations, City Councillors, and community members to produce meaningful public art that will leave a positive impact on the viewers. As an LGBTQ2S+ public artist, the most important aspect of Monica’s process is working with the community to bring vibrant public artwork that ties the neighbourhood together. This process creates a thriving, competitive, and safe neighbourhood that certainly builds community strength. Many of her successful projects have resulted in an instilled sense of local pride, positive community engagement and creative placemaking.

About Women Paint Riverside:
‘Women Paint Riverside: Currents of Change’ is a public art program about transformation, community, and our relationship to the Don River and Lake Ontario into which the Riverside community flows. Twenty+ murals that form this project add beauty and colour to the laneways in the Riverside community, celebrate our important relationship with water, and were created by women and gender diverse artists from various backgrounds. This project is a partnership between East End Arts, Women Paint, Native Women in the Arts, and the Riverside BIA. #WomenPaintRiverside

This project was made possible with funding support by StreetArt Toronto, Hullmark, Streetcar Developments, and the Riverside BIA.

For more information on this mural visit:
https://eastendarts.ca/women-paint-riverside/