The powerful message of this new Indigenous mural at Okanagan College

A large mural that honours residential school survivors has been unveiled at Okanagan College’s Kelowna campus, designed, and painted by Syilx artist Sheldon Pierre Louis.

Titled suʔkncut’s prayers, the acrylic latex mural measures 10 ft x 21 ft, and raises awareness about the legacy and impacts of the residential school system.

Students, employees, and visitors to the Health Sciences Centre will find the new mural on the first floor, which is also home to nearby Early Childhood Education classrooms and the Four Food Chiefs sculpture created by Clint George in 2021.

“Once I realised the mural was going to be outside the early childhood education [rooms] I knew that I wanted to create imagery with children.,” Louis told Kelowana10. "The intent of it is to create awareness around the intergenerational trauma that we as indigenous people have come up against and faced in Canada."

On the mural are the nsyilxcen words “kʷu swiʔ nu̓ mtxʔ,” which roughly translate to “we are beautiful.”

“This is a reminder to our children that they are beautiful, and it is a reminder to our residential school survivors that they are beautiful,” Louis added.

Also depicted on the mural are orange flowers and a woman with a child. The flowers represent the children who never made it home from residential school.

Representing a motherly spirit or ancestor, the woman looks over those children and the young boy: a representation of the future – the breaking of cycles.

“The mural signifies Okanagan College’s lasting commitment to advancing truth and reconciliation at our campuses,” Rhea Dupuis, Director of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation at the College said in a press release.

“As a post-secondary institution, it’s important to remember that the impact of the Residential School system continues to this day, and this mural serves to remind us of that.”