Earlier this winter, we were approached by Downtown Winnipeg BIZ to help them liven up the downtown with our building with some colourful, meaningful artwork. We were paired with Winnipeg artist Bria Fernades, a talented artist who was a pleasure to work with!
Bria captured the essence of community—with all its layers, overlapping experiences, and unique perspectives. In the mural’s figures, we see faces and elements that reflect the lives of our clients, relatives, staff, and volunteers. “[The mural] suggests that community is built not through sameness, but through the coexistence of many inner worlds that are imperfect but held together,” reads the artist statement.
We truly loved being part of Bria’s process and look forward to sharing this beautiful artwork with our neighbours and clients. You can find the work on the east side of the WHC building at 419 Graham Avenue.
Read Bria’s full artist statement and bio below.
Artist Statement from Bria Fernandes:
“This mural reflects community as a shared, layered space shaped by many voices, histories, and inner lives. The figures overlap and coexist, suggesting connection rather than separation. No single person is positioned as central; instead, the work emphasizes togetherness, asking what it means to be seen collectively rather than individually.
The composition is intentionally packed. Faces, symbols, and organic forms sit close together, mirroring the way thoughts, memories, and emotions gather within us. The internal “noise” we carry, curiosity, humour, anxiety, contradiction is allowed to surface and surround the figures instead of remaining hidden. By externalizing these inner worlds, the mural treats vulnerability and imagination as shared experiences rather than private ones.
The figures represent people from different backgrounds and lived experiences, brought into the same visual space without hierarchy. Some appear grounded, others unsettled or in motion, reflecting the varied ways people navigate the world. This tension speaks to the reality of community: a network of individuals moving at different paces, holding different perspectives, yet still connected through closeness and care.
My practice often combines figurative and abstract approaches to explore social, cultural, and personal experience, using fragmentation and omission to acknowledge what is often left unspoken. In this mural, those strategies create space for multiple interpretations to exist at once.
Ultimately, this work shows belonging as something that grows and shifts. It suggests that community is built not through sameness, but through the coexistence of many inner worlds that are imperfect but held together.”
About the artist:
Bria Fernandes is a Canadian-born figurative painter whose work explores the social, cultural, and personal experiences rooted in Black diasporic lived experience. Her art delves into themes of identity, vulnerability, and belonging, using silence, omission, and exclusion as tools to depict oppression and introspection. Through symbolic imagery and passive body postures, she captures moments of self-reflection, focusing on marginalized communities’ unseen emotions and unspoken truths. Working primarily with oil paint and acrylics, Bria incorporates symbolic objects and animals that reflect her personal and cultural narratives. Her intricate works create emotionally resonant spaces, inviting viewers to share these moments of introspection and fostering dialogue about identity, anxiety, and displacement. Born in Ottawa, Ontario, Bria now resides in Winnipeg, Manitoba. She has completed her BFA at Alberta University of the Arts.
