Ola Volo | Eyes on the Streets

2016 was the first year that the Vancouver Mural Festival was held. This event that ran nine years but apparently will not be held this year, 2025. In the first year there were about 40 murals painted in 20 different locations. A concentration of them can still be seen near Main and Industrial.

below: Wall of murals on Industrial Street in Vancouver

pale blue wall, 4 murals painted on it, cars parked on street by them,

below: “Van City Scape” by Ola Volo

part of a mural by Ola Volo called Van City Scape, stylized elements of a city, some with faces

below: A frog and a flying insect beside a pond or lake, a mural by Cody Lecoy,

street art mural in vancouver by cody lecoy, pond scene, frog, flying insect, water, rocks on shore,

below: This mural is a representation of Buddhist figures Yama and Mara, where the 3 heads rep Mara’s daughters, Craving, Aversion, and Desire. It was painted by Paige Bowman

Large street art mural by Paige Bowman, Chinese style, representing Buddhist figures

3 daughters of Mara, Craving, Aversion, and Desire, all from Buddhism

corner of a building with street art murals on two sides, Vancouver city street sign in front for Southern Street

below: Everything Matters; Nothing’s Important, by Katie Maasik

below: This dragon is a collaboration between Katie So and Ben Knight, “Knot Yourself”. The title comes from the fact that the mural spells out those words; the portion shown here is the O and T at the end of KNOT and the Y at the beginning of YOURSELF.

below: Nevercrew painted this large red mural – it’s a polar bear stuck inside a plastic bottle and it has the title, “Exhausting Machine”

There was also a wall of murals painted along Southern Street. Most of them are now at least partially obscured by changes in the building, or by items stored in front of the walls.

below: Mural by Julia Iredale,

close up of part of a mural by Julia Iredale

below: Shannon Elliott’s mural of large birds with little naked men in their beaks.

mural from 2016 Vancouver Mural Festival, birds, a nest, some flowers and some small scale naked men

below: Conductor with baton and lightning bolts?, the blare of a trumpet and a determined cello player. by Tim Mack

below: Only a very small portion of the mural was visible the day that I passed by, kids and little pink fingers or worms, by Peter Ricq,

below: Words – the whole mural originally said, “We’re looking for people who like to look for people”. by Bobo

Photos taken April 2025

Large murals seen around downtown Vancouver.

below: Flowers growing beside the entrance to an office building in a painting by Anais Lera

below: “Dreamweaver”, 2020, by Lauren Brevner and James Nexw’Kalus-Xwalacktun Harry (aka James Harry) in part as a response to the death of George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter movement. Commissioned by the Vancouver Mural Festival and Hudson Pacific Properties.

below: On the side of a parking structure at Seymour and West Pender, Carolyn Wong has painted a large mural featuring aquatic life in a pond. Ducks and fish swim among the water lilies.

below: In the fading light of late afternoon, “Earth Justice” by Shepard Fairey takes on a yellowish glow. Financial help for this mural was provided from the Burrard Arts Foundation and their ‘Surface Series’