Bareket Kewzer & Julia Prajza, 321 Albany Ave, Toronto, Canada
Artist statement: Emerging from an isolating winter, the opportunity to create a mural together for the You Are Not Alone initiative was both healing and heartwarming. Art has the capacity to normalize conversations about the difficulties we move through and remind each one of us that it’s human to struggle—at one point or another, we all do. Creating this piece was a wonderful reminder that when we support one another, we all emerge stronger. With Julia's bold lettering design, Bareket's experience and skills, and our team of assistants that we met through this initiative, we were able to create this unique piece together. The residents of Tarragon Village in Toronto welcomed us with open arms, excited to have a larger than life art piece in their community, especially one with a meaningful message. We hope to continue sharing these inspiring messages in Toronto and beyond!
Bareket Kezwer is a muralist, community engaged artist and facilitator, poet, collage enthusiast, curator, cultural producer, creative director, graphic designer, mentor, frequent collaborator and eternal optimist.
Their multidisciplinary practice is motivated by a desire to playfully celebrate the power of kindness, curiosity, and compassion and cultivate individual and collective gratitude. They use bright colours, joyful patterns and bold typography to captivate people’s attention, ground them in the present moment, and fill them with a sense of belonging or delight. They passionately create art that promotes radical self love and acceptance and use colour as medicine towards the goal of collective healing. Recently, they have been bringing lessons from their new love of gardening into their art. They feel nourished when they are able to share teachings from their plant and fungi friends that encourage people to cultivate a reciprocal relationship with the natural world.
Through facilitating community engaged art, and curating and producing collaborative murals, they work to engage people through creativity while supporting the growth of inclusive and connected communities.
Julia Prajza is a Muralist, Lettering Artist, and Designer based in Toronto. As an OCAD University graduate, with experience in Art Direction and Graphic Design, she has returned to her first love: the art of drawing and painting. Bringing her design expertise and graphic style to her work, Julia often focuses on floral or text-based imagery. Creating intrigue with ornate details, vibrant colours, and a whimsical feel, she aims to bring more joy and positivity into our everyday lives. From private to public spaces, brick to glass textures, vinyl print to hand painted, Julia has produced 25+ diverse murals. Recently she co-founded Neighbourhood Love, an artist collective that's collaborating with neighbourhoods to bring colour to our streets. With her lively spirit, Julia is emerging into the community-engaged art world because she strongly believes in the power of art and its ability to cultivate human connection and improve our mental health.
Bareket and Julia are two of the co-founders of Neighbourhood Love, an artist collective based in Toronto. This small team of four was born through a mutual love of community-engaged art and the desire to connect with our neighbours. As a group of professional mural artists, they are collaborating with neighbourhoods to bring colour to our streets. The Collective came together quickly and naturally to develop their first public art initiative as a response to a bullying incident in October 2020. They organized a creative demonstration of love through 25 hand painted murals by 20 local artists for homeowners across South Etobicoke. They volunteered their professional skills in order to visibly express the positive, diverse and inclusive spirit of this community. Together, Neighbourhood Love turned this negative story into a positive one, spreading joy and colour in the neighbourhood. As a Collective, they hope to continue these projects of community love, encouraging human connection through public murals in Toronto and beyond.