A Burnaby artist is hoping to turn a negative into a positive after a mural he painted to show solidarity with Ukraine was defaced with “abhorrent” messages.
Jordan Malcolm said he painted the mural, which included a pair of large yellow sunflowers — Ukraine’s national flower — and the phrase “stand with Ukraine” on temporary construction fencing near his apartment on Wilson Avenue about two weeks ago.
He awoke early Saturday morning to discover someone had modified it to say “down with the Ukrainian Nazis,” and added what he described as a combination of a swastika and the “Z” symbol the Russian military has been using in its invasion of Ukraine.
Russia has used the “de-Nazification” of Ukraine as a part of its justification for the war.
“It’s really terrible that there’s actually someone or a group of people in the neighoburhood that are pro-Kremlin or willing to spread this propaganda in this way, because it is hurting people by doing this,” Malcolm told Global News.
“What they wrote was too obscene and would hurt a lot of Ukrainian people in the neighbourhood if they saw it.”
Malcolm, who has Georgian and Jewish heritage, called the idea that Ukraine has been taken over by Nazis laughable, noting that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and that a large portion of the country’s population has Jewish roots.
Burnaby RCMP is investigating the incident and is looking for security video shot in the area in the hopes of identifying a suspect.
Malcolm quickly painted over the offending vandalism but said he’s now trying to leverage the incident to create a larger message of support for Ukrainians.
He said he has spoken with the construction company that intends to paint the remainder of the temporary fence blue, and is calling on people to come down to the site and add their own art supporting Ukraine.
“It’s really terrible what happened, but at the same rate, this is going to help expand it. That’s why I am making a call out to artists in the neighbourhood, in the community surrounding the wider Lower Mainland — come bring your supplies, make signs of support for Ukraine,” Malcolm said.
“There’s plenty of space on the walkway.”
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