‘#WeAreBDA Mural Celebrates Local Vernacular

Bermuda Memes and the Chewstick Community Art Program led the painting of a mural this past weekend on the site of the former Canadian Hotel. The brainchild of Bermuda Memes Founder & CEO De’jon Simons, the #WeAreBDA mural celebrates dozens of unique Bermuda sayings.

Bermuda Memes asked its social media following to submit their favourite local sayings in order to create a design surrounding Gombey masks. With the permission of local business owner Mr. Teddy Powell [Spot Restaurant], a group of several dozen volunteers spent Friday night and Saturday painting the celebratory mural.

Chewstick Community Art Director Tiago Garcia hailed the initiative as a success: “We are actively exploring positive community partnerships to continue our public art movement. We hope people take the time to enjoy the mural, and also have a chalkboard section where one can add their mark to the project.”

“The mural took a couple of months to plan and could not have been completed without the generosity of the following companies and individuals:

• - CellOne for sponsoring materials;
• - Sweet Saaks Bakery for donating baked goods to volunteers;
• - The Docksider Bar & Restaurant for providing electricity;
• - The Mad Hatters Restaurant for lending extension cords; and
• - Mr. Teddy Powell for allowing us to paint on his property.

“Last but not least the volunteers were amazing. We had people of all ages show up to assist us, and trust they all had a positive experience. Participatory public art projects allows us to create a sense of ownership with an area, and reiterates the power individuals can have in changing their built environment.

“We’re already looking forward to the next project, and invite businesses to express their interest in assisting our program by contacting info@chewstick.org”

#Artists

Category: All, Entertainment