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Art Jam shows humanity behind climate crisis at Burnaby City Hall

Artists imagined the future with art depicting climate action

A bright orange skyscraper breaks apart under the beating rays of a raging sun in a painting created by Anne Saint Louis outside Burnaby City Hall on Monday.

The image is a modern re-imagining of a tarot card that traditionally depicts a crumbling medieval tower.

“The tower indicates great change – great emergency change needed,” Saint Louis explains. 

“The vision is we need to change to something else, maybe this,” she says, pointing to a robust tree painted opposite the tower.

art jam salmon
Source: Kelvin Gawley

The artist was among some two dozen participants in an art jam organized by environmental group Force of Nature to “reimagine Burnaby’s future.”

The event was organized in recognition of Burnaby city council’s recent declaration of a climate emergency and its commitment to reach carbon neutrality by 2050.

“Burnaby just took a big step by declaring a climate emergency and adopting high emissions targets for community-wide emissions,” organizer Jake Hubley said. “So now we're waiting for the strategy and what better way to do that and keep them accountable than to get people together and imagine what we would want to see in that strategy in terms of solutions for the community that could benefit our lives.”

 Some two-dozen participants painted various pieces and a mural, played music through speakers powered by solar energy and recorded a “voices of our community” audio track.

art jam mural
Source: Kelvin Gawley