Ottawa high school adding mural celebrating diversity to atrium with help from local artist

Students at Holy Trinity Catholic High School are painting a mural for Black History Month in collaboration with a local artist. CTV’s Dave Charbonneau reports.

An Ottawa high school is adding a statement of unity to its atrium, commissioning a local artist to help students create a mural celebrating diversity.

At Holy Trinity Catholic High School, a blank wall is about to become something much more.

“We really want to show the community and unity that we have at this school,” said student Dawit Abera.

This Black History Month, students are working with local artist Allan Andre to design and paint a large-scale mural in the school’s atrium, one that reflects who they are.

“The school is very diverse. And obviously in our classes, sometimes we don’t see that. For me, I never really see that. But when you walk around in the atrium and stuff like that, you can see that there’s a lot of groups of people here,” said student Sayeda Eyobo.

The mural will represent seven continents, all crossing bridges to reach a central land that symbolizes the school.

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“There’s a lot of division going on in the world right now, and we’re trying to create something that is basically going to try to unite everybody. We want to create an art piece that everyone can see a bit of themselves in,” said student Mayowa Ajayi.

Andre has done this before. His mural with students at Sacred Heart School is set to be revealed Wednesday. And when Holy Trinity students heard that he was coming to their school, the reaction was instant.

“When the students found out that Allan Andre was coming to paint this mural and collaborate with them on the BSA (Black Student Association), they actually screamed because they were so excited because they were familiar with his artwork,” said BSA teacher lead Marissa McGee.

“It’s going to be very fun to paint all the colours because we want it to be very bold and colourful. So, I’m very excited to paint people and flags and stuff like that,” said student Kiesy Sala.

For some students, this mural is about leaving something lasting behind.

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“It’ll give them something to look forward to every day. Because I know that there are a bunch of murals upstairs. When I was in seventh grade, eighth grade, I loved seeing them

around. We had so many great ones, and so I hope that this can be what it was for me, to all the other students at the school," said student Posimi Sotunde.

Painting of the mural will begin later this week.