A Burnaby construction company’s decision to paint over a mural supporting Ukraine sparked an angry response and calls to police yesterday.
The mural, painted by local artist Jordan Malcolm on the plywood construction hoarding at 5977 Wilson Avenue, attracted media attention earlier this week after it was defaced with anti-Ukrainian graffiti.
After hours of work, Malcolm had finished a new mural by Tuesday night, according to social media posts, but that work was painted-over Thursday.
Police were called to the site (Bosa Properties’ new Central Park House condo project) Thursday morning, according to Burnaby RCMP.
The detachment said a person called police and reported a man was on their property and yelling at an employee.
“Upon arrival, police spoke to all parties and learned that the company had painted over a mural on their property after discovering it had been defaced. This information upset the person that painted the mural. An argument ensued and police were called,” stated an RCMP email.
The detachment said the situation was resolved on scene after a “discussions with all involved parties” and no charges are being forwarded.
Bosa has since told the NOW Malcolm threw yellow paint at the blue wall during the incident.
“There was an element of safety for the people on site that weren’t feeling particularly safe on the ground at the time,” Bosa Properties vice-president Jen Riley said in an interview.
Riley said Bosa had decided to paint over the mural because it didn’t want the construction barrier to be caught in a “cycle of vandalism.”
Since Thursday’s incident, however, she said the company has decided to open up the space as a “temporary community canvas” for Malcolm and other artists to express “respectful” and “positive” messages.
For safety reasons, she said the work will be restricted to Sundays when construction is shut down at the site.
But the company won’t put any restrictions on references to the war in Ukraine as long as they’re not disrespectful or negative, according to Riley.
She acknowledged Malcolm’s original murals had been positive and respectful.
When she was asked why the company didn’t simply leave them up, she said:
“The difference now is we understand there’s more support for what this means. Without understanding what was behind it, we were simply ensuring that we weren’t in a cycle of vandalism on the site.”
Despite a number of news stories about the mural, Riley said Bosa hadn't known who painted them until after the incident at the site Thursday morning.
The company has since met with Malcolm and is working with him on the community canvas project, Riley said.
The project will run until April 18, when artist Scott Sueme will begin work on a more permanent mural for the hoarding.
Riley said one of the reasons the construction barrier had been left blank in the first place was that Bosa had already picked Sueme to put up a mural there.
Since work on the Central Park House project is still in its early stages, Sueme’s work could be up for years, according to Riley.
The NOW has reached out to Malcolm for comment but has not heard back.
Follow Cornelia Naylor on Twitter @CorNaylor
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