The Our Collingwood diversity mural is a project conceived by John Cardillo Jr. and created by artists John Cardillo Jr., Kaiden Collver, & Emma Thornewell.
The mural features portraits of 43 members of the Collingwood community — young and old, recent arrivals and longtime residents, representatives of different racial, religious and cultural backgrounds and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“The Unity Collective strongly believes that celebrating diversity, both visible and invisible, builds a stronger and more inclusive community that is capable of doing great things. The mural is an important reflection on the multitude of stories that make up the substance of Collingwood, and conveys a message of hope, resilience, unity and community.”
“With the unveiling of a mural featuring 43 members of the community, Simcoe.com felt it was important to tell the story of Collingwood’s growing diversity.”
The Town of Collingwood invited John Cardillo Jr. and Emma Thornewell to join the newly established Unity Collective. Along with Kaiden Collver, they presented a proposal to create a public display to promote togetherness and diversity — the Our Collingwood mural is born.
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The team began an open call for community members to take part in this project. Over a four-month period, the portraits were taken at the Collingwood Youth Centre.
During this time, the search began to find a suitable home for the mural — 470 First St. Fathom Boards and its landlord enthusiastically offered the space to the project free of charge.
Fundraising was also an important piece of the puzzle; finding passionate community partners was vital for the success of this project.
John Cardillo Jr. speaks at the public unveiling about the year-and-a-half-long journey to bring the mural to life. Much of the work went unseen, but without these three passionate young artists this project would not exist.
Photo by Nathan Bedard
Inspired by the early work of French photographer and street artist JR, our goal was to showcase the diverse community that makes up Collingwood. Though this project was conceived by Kaiden, Emma, and I, it would not have been possible without amazing community support. We will forever be thankful to all those who trusted us with their portraits and gave their time to this project.
I am grateful to have worked alongside Lea Pankhurst, Anisha Bensdira, Marcia Alderson, bam528, the Wilson Sisters, the Town of Collingwood, the Unity Collective, and so many others on this year-and-a-half long creative journey. Together we have created something that is bigger than any of us as the Our Collingwood mural will remain a fixture of downtown Collingwood for the next 3–5 years. It is a statement of love, togetherness, and community. The goal of this project is not to put names to each face, it is to put faces to one name — Collingwood.