what we carry (2024)
designed by Erica H Isomura & painted by Natalia da Costa
East West Mural Festival
Esquimalt Gorge Park in Esquimalt, B.C.
East West Mural Festival
Esquimalt Gorge Park in Esquimalt, B.C.
A vision for collective healing and growth.
This mural reflects wishes for past, present, and future communities surrounding Esquimalt Gorge Park, lǝk̓wǝŋǝn territories and beyond, in a neighbourhood where I once lived. As an artist whose work is informed by grassroots community organizing, I believe art and creativity are a necessary component to mending wounds of our shared history, including ongoing legacies of dispossession and displacement.
This meandering, non-linear mural design responds to Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 non-fiction essay “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” which underscores the importance of collectivistic rather than individualistic approaches to storytelling and world building.
This mural reflects wishes for past, present, and future communities surrounding Esquimalt Gorge Park, lǝk̓wǝŋǝn territories and beyond, in a neighbourhood where I once lived. As an artist whose work is informed by grassroots community organizing, I believe art and creativity are a necessary component to mending wounds of our shared history, including ongoing legacies of dispossession and displacement.
This meandering, non-linear mural design responds to Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1986 non-fiction essay “The Carrier Bag Theory of Fiction” which underscores the importance of collectivistic rather than individualistic approaches to storytelling and world building.
© 2026 Erica H. Isomura