Native from Columbia, Julian Palma is an emerging multidisciplinary artist who works into illustration, videography and mural art. He takes part both as creator and coordinator on a number of mural projects and creates illustrations for a variety of publishing houses in Canada, Spain and Columbia. Julian Palma arrives in Montreal in 2011 and quickly integrates the cultural city life by taking part in a variety of events. He creates his first large-scale outdoor mural during the summer of 2015.
Artwork description
The mural, named Nacimiento, was created by artist Julian Palma in front of Dalbé-Viau park, and aims to improve the look of the area while involving the community.
Six meetings with local youth were organized with the artist to design the mural. First, a conceptual ideation workshop was held with animators from the Lachine Graffiti Program and the artist to discuss a theme, then art workshops were offered to the youngsters in collaboration with the neighborhood community organization, Comité de vie de quartier Duff-Court (COVIQ). Through these art workshops, the Lachine Graffiti Program animators and MU created strong ties with local youth, informally raising their awareness of the impact of graffiti on their environment, increasing their sense of pride, bringing them closer together across generations and communities, and reclaiming their living space.
The artwork represents the themes of nature, environmental awareness and hope. Through his depiction of plants, foliage and birds, Julian Palma depicts the bond between humans and nature, and the natural strength of the interrelation between communities and their environment.