Between East Hastings and Cordova, there鈥檚 a stretch of well-worn road locals call 鈥淐rack Alley.鈥� Situated on the 鈥渮ero block鈥� behind Overdose Prevention Society鈥檚 supervised injection site and the Downtown Eastside Street Market, it鈥檚 one of the busier alleys in the neighbourhood, filled with garbage, the stench of urine, rampant drug use and overdoses.
It鈥檚 a bleak scene that Trey Helten, a peer supervisor and volunteer coordinator at Overdose Prevention Society, hopes to make a little less grim for those who frequent the alley. Helten, who goes by the handle Ashtrey, oversees the DTES Alley Mural Project. With paint donated by the 麻豆传媒映画Mural Festival, artists from the neighbourhood, including Helten, are bringing some colour to the alley with a series of message-filled murals and memorials depicting everything from robots and geishas to hypodermic needles and the life-saving powers of NARCAN and Naloxone kits.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 about taking back space,鈥� Helten says. 鈥淚nstead of having some dirty wall, you can look at it as a canvas.鈥�
Steve 鈥淪lix鈥� Rogal lost his mom, uncle and many friends to the city鈥檚 fentanyl overdose epidemic. His mural 鈥淕one but not forgotten鈥� is a tribute to them, and his accompanying piece depicting the Grim Reaper above a clock and the words 鈥淕ame Over鈥� etched in blood on the knuckles carries a cautionary message.聽
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot people who don鈥檛 realize how dangerous this place is until they experience it firsthand,鈥� Rogal says. 鈥淚f you鈥檙e not careful back here, your time will be up, you know.鈥澛�
Jocelyn 鈥淛ose鈥� McGillivray incorporated the neighbourhood鈥檚 Asian influences into her sprawling mural that mixes bits of anime with geishas and dragons.聽
鈥淚t鈥檚 a self-reflection of a girl,鈥� McGillivray says. 鈥淭he bottom half is negative and the top half is positive. So you have a choice which to choose, positive or negative.鈥�
Graffiti artist James 鈥淪mokey Devil鈥� Hardy is another neighbourhood resident lending his talents to the alley project. His cartoon character-like depictions of drug use and paraphernalia are well known across the Downtown Eastside.聽聽聽 聽
鈥淚 try to leave a message of some sort so someone can quickly read it and check it out and maybe think twice about being safe, and try and bring a brighter kind of outlook onto a dark area,鈥� Hardy says.
Besides sprucing up the alley, the mural project provides a venue for local artists, says Helten. There鈥檚 also a GoFundMe campaign to fund some of the artists who live in the neighbourhood.聽聽聽
鈥淭he goal of the GoFundMe is to raise money to pay Downtown Eastside artists within the community a respectable artist鈥檚 fee to paint and do what they love.鈥� Helten says. 鈥淎rt is therapy. It鈥檚 a really healthy thing for a lot of people.鈥澛�
Other artists involved in the project include Shawn Hefele, Rybel, Boy, Tristan a.k.a. 鈥淐rack Baby,鈥� Colm Knight, Derrick Walker,聽Damien Mowry聽and Bob High.
For information about the GoFundMe campaign, go to .
For more on the mural project, watch the Courier's video BELOW:
