{"id":17054,"date":"2019-02-06T09:00:25","date_gmt":"2019-02-06T17:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/?p=17054"},"modified":"2019-02-08T09:59:18","modified_gmt":"2019-02-08T17:59:18","slug":"camosun-college-student-fights-for-diversity-with-guerrilla-art-on-campus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/2019\/02\/06\/camosun-college-student-fights-for-diversity-with-guerrilla-art-on-campus\/","title":{"rendered":"Camosun College student fights for diversity with guerrilla art on campus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Camosun College student is taking matters into their own hands and placing guerrilla art around campus without getting college approval. The student is making the art to raise awareness about diversity issues. Their biggest installation so far has been a large picture of Mt. Everest stuck to a staircase in the Wilna Thomas building on the Lansdowne campus. They\u2019re also placing small felt flowers around campus, with notes attached to them, as part of their work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student (because of the nature of guerrilla art, the student will remain anonymous in this story) says that with the art they are hoping to instil in people the idea that faith and hope in humanity has been restored. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you think of flowers growing through the cracks of a concrete sidewalk, there\u2019s that aspect of hope, and the little note on there was kind of implying that,\u201d says the student, adding that everyone can relate to feeling different and left out at times. \u201cThat\u2019s why all the flowers are different.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second-year English student Scott Spaldingsays that he saw the flowers around campus but didn\u2019t take too much notice; when we tell him the same person did the Everest installation, he has nothing but good things to say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee, that\u2019s creative. They\u2019re trying to make a difference every day; that\u2019s neat,\u201d he says. \u201cAs long as it\u2019s not hurting anyone, it\u2019s fine.\u201d (Camosun did not respond to requests for comment about the art.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/a>
A Camosun College student has put up guerrilla art around campus drawing attention to diversity issues (photo provided).<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Traditionally, guerrilla art is done quietly and without permission and is in a public space for the masses to see. There\u2019s not necessarily recognition for the artist; it\u2019s more about the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s unauthorized,\u201d says the student. \u201cIt\u2019s just to kind of take people by surprise, and hopefully make a memorable impression, and kind of create some social buzz.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Other students had positive things to say about the art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI like it,\u201d says second-year Indigenous College Prep student Mary Harry. \u201cIt\u2019s a good idea to get it out there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First-year Practical Nursing student Shannon Smith says the project is really good and positive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of differences, and a lot of people who don\u2019t feel like they fit in,\u201d saysSmith.\u201cPromoting [diversity] makes the community stronger.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith doesn\u2019t think the nature of guerrilla art is a problem, especially because this art in particular was easily removed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf they\u2019re damaging property, then maybe [it\u2019s not okay], but it has a good message, and it\u2019s not damaging anything,\u201d says Smith.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student creating the art says they originally had an idea to bring soil and real flowers on campus, but they were unsure about any possible restrictions around bringing soil onto Indigenous land. Even with felt flowers and removable adhesive posters as their mouthpiece, there was still a bit of uncertainty around  putting the art around campus, says the student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a little bit afraid,\u201d says the student, recalling a time they saw a security guard on campus as they were carrying a box containing the flowers. \u201cI was like, \u2018Uh-oh, is he for me?\u2019\u201d (The security guard wasn\u2019t out for the student\u2014he walked past them.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student says that society still has a lot of work to do when it comes to diversity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe people that are in my program, and myself, I feel like we\u2019re trying to do that work,\u201d they say. \u201cThere\u2019s so many things we can do, big and little.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student knows there is a system in place that serves as a reference point for how people should act in our society, but they say that fitting in can get challenging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have these systems that are kind of geared towards people that fit that mould,\u201d they say. \u201cI sometimes wonder, \u2018Who actually does fit that mould?\u2019 I know I don\u2019t. I don\u2019t feel like I really know anyone that does.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student says that it\u2019s important to fight back, and one way to do that is through art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have these world leaders and stuff\u2014I won\u2019t mention any names\u2014but I feel like it\u2019s going the wrong way,\u201d they say.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The student has plans to do at least two more diversity art projects around the Lansdowne campus. They say the next one will take place in February and the one after that in March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI just sometimes wonder, \u2018What\u2019s the most important thing here?\u2019 I think it\u2019s people and their lives. It should matter,\u201d they say. \u201cIt should matter a lot.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It matters to some people. One morning at about 7 am, when the student was placing one of the bunches of felt flowers in a sidewalk crack near the corner of Foul Bay and Lansdowne, a cyclist dismounted from her bike and came over to the student.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe came over, and she patted me on the back, and she\u2019s like, \u2018Thank you so much for doing this,\u2019\u201d says the student. \u201cShe didn\u2019t read the note or anything. She just kind of saw it and it made her happy, and she gave me a big hug.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Camosun College student is taking matters into their own hands and placing guerrilla art around campus without getting college approval. The student is making the art to raise awareness about diversity issues. Their biggest installation so far has been a large picture of Mt. Everest stuck to a staircase in the Wilna Thomas building […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":17055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,226],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-february-6-2019"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17054"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17054\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17056,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17054\/revisions\/17056"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17055"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nexusnewspaper.com\/newsite\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}