World-renowned artist Kelsey Montague has united with Tourism Burlington to present her newest, vibrant piece of street art, The Garden Swing. As the latest addition to the city’s #WhatLiftsYou mural installations, The Garden Swing is both a creative selfie spot and an iconic image of the city itself. Photo courtesy Tourism Burlington
World-renowned artist Kelsey Montague has united with Tourism Burlington to present her newest, vibrant piece of street art, The Garden Swing.
The mural, located at Elizabeth Street and Lakeshore Road in Burlington, Ont., features five unique images of the city hidden within its design. In addition to these hidden symbols, the mural’s interactive component is a large jungle swing, featuring bright, vibrant florals, and enchanting green space—a nod to Canada’s largest Royal Botanical Gardens, situated only a few kilometres away.
“Traditionally, destination marketing organizations and other placemaking groups have relied on large, branded installations to bring attention to their destination,” says Kristene Smith, executive director of Tourism Burlington. “But marketing a destination is about more than just reinforcing the name of a geographic area. We want to showcase Burlington’s diverse offerings uniquely and creatively.”
As the latest addition to the city’s #WhatLiftsYou mural installations, The Garden Swing is both a creative selfie spot and an iconic image of the city itself. As part of the new release, Tourism Burlington has also planned a social media contest calling for participants to capture a selfie at all five locations referenced in the mural’s design.
Montague has created large-scale, interactive street murals around the world, including Cape Town, Galway, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, Manchester, Nashville, Los Angeles, and New York City. Each piece provides an opportunity for people to become a “living work of art.” Her work has also been featured and/or commissioned by Taylor Swift, Forbes, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, The Smithsonian, and The Today Show.
