Mural honouring Vancouver Lapu Lapu festival victims to be unveiled this weekend
“As the only Filipino muralist participating in this year’s Astro Arts Festival, I’m incredibly grateful to Filipino BC for sponsoring this work and helping ensure our stories are visible in public space,” said Cortez. “Representation in art is not just symbolic — it is necessary. It tells us we belong, we are seen, and we are remembered.
“This wall is not just a painting. It’s a site of remembrance, reclamation, and resistance. It’s also a love letter to the strength of our community — and to the generations before and after us who continue to fight for joy, justice, and healing.”
Pagalala at Pagasa (Remembrance and Hope) will be painted at the Astro Arts Club, located at 165 W. 4th Ave., on Saturday, Aug. 9. The mural tribute to the Vancouver Lapu Lapu victims is based on Filipino tradition and artistry, with symbolic imagery including precolonial funerary practices like the Manunggul Jar and the ancestral balangay.
Mara Cortez
“This mural is about healing through art and connection,” explained Kristina Corpin-Moser, Executive Director of Filipino BC. “In the wake of such heartbreaking loss, we knew we had to create space for our community to grieve, to honour, and to begin healing together.
“Supporting Mara in bringing this vision to life is our way of saying: we will not forget. Through this mural, we hold space for sorrow — but also for strength, for unity, and for the hope that rises when we come together.”
Cortez’s work is one of more than 35 experimental murals, graffiti works, and street art pieces being created during the 2025 Astro Arts Festival. There will also be six giant new mural installations created in the immersive, open-air gallery.
Astro Arts Festival
The free three-day block party will also showcase live DJ sets, open studios, artist talks, a beer garden, and the 100 Amigos Exhibition curated by Pablo Zamudio, Drew Young, and Douglas Coupland.
Astro Arts Festival
When: Aug. 8 to 10, 2025
Time: 6 to 8 p.m. (Friday), 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. (Saturday and Sunday)
Where: Astro Arts Club – 165 W. 4th Ave., Vancouver
Cost: Free
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