About This Installation
This work holds two important layers of collaboration grounded in community care and ecological representation through public art.
For this exhibition, I wanted to share a mural project currently on view in Grand Rapids, Michigan, created for the 2025 Pleasant Peninsula Mural Festival. The work features a grey wolf in a grassy nighttime landscape, representing the hours when wolves are most active beneath the light of the moon and stars. This pose invites playfulness while symbolizing resilience and presence. While grey wolf populations are in decline, the stance suggests they are not alone. In developing this piece, I wanted to reflect boldness and pride.
Created with guidance from conservation professional Gary J. Roloff, the work is grounded in ecological care and considers biodiversity and the responsibility to protect the land, wildlife and the systems they depend on.
Due to ICE-related activity in the area at the time, I was not able to attend the festival in person, so I supported the mural remotely from Canada through collaboration with the on-site team. As part of the image transfer process, community members were invited to write messages of support such as “support your immigrant neighbour” and “Juntos Somos Fuertes,” transforming the wall into a collective expression of care and solidarity with immigrant communities. This became the foundation of the doodle-grid transfer process, grounding the mural in love, care and collective support before the painting began.
As a Nicaraguan-Canadian artist, storytelling, memory and connection to the spiritual and natural world remain at the centre of my practice.
About the Mini Gallery Program
The Northeast Mini Galleries Public Art Program includes 10 mini galleries, located at different community associations. The mini galleries feature 30 artists throughout the year — each exhibition showcases 10 local artists, selected by a local curator, for a four-month period.
The Northeast Mini Galleries program started in 2023 as part of the City of Calgary’s Northeast Public Art Initiative which brings several public art projects to Calgary’s northeast communities, supports local artists, enhances northeast neighbourhoods and reflects the people who live in the communities where the art will be located.
This initiative aims to build amazing spaces for people to come together and provides opportunities for local artists to showcase their talent while celebrating the diversity of artforms, people and cultures represented in northeast Calgary.
Information about the current exhibition and artwork featured in this gallery can be found on Calgary Arts Development's website.