Note: In the March 2015 print edition of The Reckoner, the article was previously entitled “QSA Mural”. However, The Reckoner would like to apologize for failing to recognize the Art Council’s role in the creation of the mural in the title. The name has been changed to provide a more equal representation of the two school groups.
The Pride mural seeks to encourage MGCI to be an open and supportive school. Photo courtesy of Gloria Zhou
Marc Garneau’s Queer Straight Alliance (QSA) and Art Council are working together to design a mural that will be placed in the school cafeteria. The mural spells out the word “Pride” in a myriad of colours, and will serve to encourage and support LGBTQ students in the school.
Approximately twenty members in Art Council and QSA have been designing and preparing for this project for a month and a half. Students began creating the mural three weeks ago. It is expected to be completed in two weeks. In these three weeks, the participants have primed the canvas, sketched the outline, and begun painting.
The two councils seek to create a piece of art that will brighten up the atmosphere of the school, while delivering a meaningful message. The mural’s primary objective is to announce that MGCI is a queer-positive space that will support all LGBTQ youth. However, the meaning goes further than that—it wants to eliminate social prejudices that minorities face, including racism, sexism, ageism, ableism, and homophobia.
Students from the QSA and MGCI’s Art Council collaborated to create a mural to be placed in the school cafeteria. Photo courtesy of Gloria Zhou
In addition to reducing prejudice, the mural also seeks to encourage students who are currently questioning their sexuality to feel accepted in the school environment. Khalida Elsadati, Social Media Manager of QSA, said that “This mural is important because it will make a lot of students who may be afraid of coming out, or who are worried about being accepted know that MGCI has their back. Our school becomes more of a queer-positive space.”
Gloria Zhou, president of Art Council, elaborates on the purpose of the mural. “If we address the ignorance and discriminative behaviour possessed by a fraction of our society today and make an effort to shout back with something as loud and expressive as this mural, perhaps that fraction will become more open minded.”
