The vibrancy and multiculturalism of Winnipeg’s downtown is being reflected with a new public art installation.
Twelve banners now line the perimeter of Central Park in the heart of the city, each of them uniquely designed to reflect the different people who make up the neighbourhoods surrounding the park.
The banners were created by local artist Bistyek, who himself has lived in the downtown since first arriving from Winnipeg as a refugee from Syria back in 2017.
“The inspiration comes from the community itself, the Central Park community itself,” says Bistyek. “What I was trying to do is to reflect the community and to give the best representation that I could.”
“There is a lot of stories, there is a lot of history that we need to acknowledge, and we need to highlight.”
In the seven years since he’s lived in the downtown, Bistyek has noticed that while the community around him is a mosaic of different cultures from all over the world, immigrant and refugee, Indigenous and settler peoples, the public art hasn’t reflected the reality of the shared existence of the neighbourhood. “It was hard for me to see art pieces that I am represented in,” he explained. “So my goal from a long time ago was to have some representation of newcomer communities.”
The characters in the twelve different banners don’t represent one specific person or instance, but all of them were inspired by real experiences in Bistyek’s life in the neighbourhood, whether it was playing soccer on the field in the centre of the park, or else just observing the comings and goings of families.
One quality that Bistyek is particularly proud of in his work is the resilience that he has captured, particularly in his portrayals of Indigenous women. “I got a lot of love and positivie feedback from a lot of Indigenous folks here in Central Park, which is what I really wanted.”
Images like this help to dispel what Bistyek describes as misconceptions about the downtown being a difficult or even violent place to live. “There’s a lot of stereotypes about being downtown,” he says. “I’ve been living downtown for almost seven years. It’s beautiful. It’s full of life, it’s full of interesting people, beautiful people. There’s a lot of people who [are] just looking to have the right place, right stages to shine more.”
