As people pass by the mural, Humphries invites them to “try to count the number of bears” depicted in the artwork. Photo courtesy Ollie Williams/Cabin Radio
A mural that once welcomed visitors to Yellowknife’s Stanton Hospital was removed during the building’s reconstruction, and has found a new home outside the hospital facility. The artist, Walt Humphries, was shocked when the mural was found abandoned in gravel behind the building in 2020. It has now been restored to a prominent position on the road leading to the hospital, according to Cabin Radio.
The 9.14-m (30-ft) mural depicts people on a boardwalk spanning several landscapes with Northwest Territories’ Yellowknife in the background.
When the mural was discovered abandoned, the territorial government quickly wrapped it in tarp and promised to restore it. Towards the end of August, that promise was fulfilled.
Humphries, who created the mural three decades ago, was pleased to see it reinstated. “I’m glad to see it’s back, because I volunteered to paint it to give people something fun or interesting to look at,” he told Cabin Radio.
The mural’s design shows that the hospital “covered all of the Northwestern Territories and part of Nunavut, an enormous area”.
The territorial health authority expressed satisfaction with the mural’s return. “It was never our intent to get rid of the mural,” said spokesperson David Maguire, although he acknowledged that “the mural was not immediately preserved in storage”.
“The plan was to reinstate the mural after site works were complete, so residents could once again enjoy this community artwork created by Walt Humphries. With the completion of the Łıwegǫ̀atì facility” —the refurbishment of the old hospital into a new-look healthcare building— “we are now at a point where we can place the mural on site,” he told Cabin Radio.
As people pass by the mural, Humphries invites them to “try to count the number of bears” depicted in the artwork.
