containR Youth Mural Project: Meet The Youth

Youth Artist Bios

Find out more about the youth involved with creating and blogging the newly completed murals.

Carl Lacsamana, Mural Artist

I am inclined to music, arts and I am a very active person who loves to play sports and exercise. I also like hiking and exploring nature. I joined Antyx in 2018 and I did a mural in Bob Bahan Aquatic Centre and since then fell in love with spray paint. I like how different and unique the spray paint is from other arts and how fast murals can be finished in just a few days.

Moni Roth Ran, Mural Artist

Art has always been an escape for me. Sometimes I get sick of the world around me and draw landscapes of where I wish to be. I don’t really have an art style because I use art to convey messages. So, depending on the message, my art “style” will adapt. As for inspiration, the world is my muse. Climate change, society and beliefs drive my pen to create. Spreading awareness to the issues in our city through art is my favourite.

Holly Ehret, Blogger

I am Holly Ehret. I currently go to school for journalism at SAIT. I am developing my voice as a young writer, and am deeply influenced by fashion, feminism, and identity. My goal is to amplify voices that may not have a platform to speak on. I am passionate about challenging gender norms, especially in the world of fashion. I am also inspired by the riot grrrl movement of the 90’s. I hope to continue this work and make this movement more inclusive for BIPOC women and gender non-conforming folks. People like Kathleen Hanna, Ziwe Fumudoh, Hunter Schafer, and Fiona Apple, all inspire me deeply.

Spider Martin, Mural Artist

I’m Spider, a 14-year-old artist born and raised in Calgary, Alberta. I’ve been taking art more seriously for close to a year now and I love the idea of being a full-time artist. I'm heavily influenced by the work of Yung Blud. I love everything he comes up with. One of the things from his art that I try to incorporate into my art as much as I can is the unapologetic nature of it. This is who I am, take it or leave it. As someone who has struggled with self-image, I think it is a really important message to be sending.

Éva Gustavson, Mural Artist

My name is Éva Gustavson and I am an aspiring painter and an experienced over-thinker. I am currently planning on entering my first year at AUarts in the fall. My art is about celebrating people, exploring outlandish ideas, our shared stories, as well as places that hold personal meaning. My art-making is essential as I use it to relieve stress and share ideas. My works are bright, detailed, colourful and most of all swirling and bubbling with positivity. I am so thankful for the opportunity to be a part of these awesome collaborative murals and I look forward to being a part of the Calgary art scene in the future.

Vanessa Akinwumi, Mural Artist

I am Vanessa Akinwumi. I've always had a deep live for art as it’s always come very naturally for me, I'm interested in many different mediums like digital art, painting, clay works, animation etc. my current works are having more of a horror influence I like to explore themes that are more unnerving and unnatural. I'm motivated the most by works that seem challenging I love pushing myself to try things that seem difficult.

Eshaad Rahmani, Mural Artist

I'm in love with the various forms of art. Whether it is drawing, writing, or photography, art is used as a form of expression. I feel that art is important for people to use when words cannot describe feelings. Art is more than an image, but a message from the artist. My favourite medium is a camera and spray paint. Spray paint is a therapeutic medium to use especially when making fills. Photography captures important and timeless moments and give strong messages. My biggest inspirations for the murals are the people around me. It is easier to build of a group concept than figuring something out on your own. My inspirations for my art would be Kerz, Toner, Alex Kwong, and highly prolific. Their art styles are what I strive towards.

Zainab Majid, Blogger

My name is Zainab Majid and I’m a grade 11 student with a passion for helping out in my community. As a young girl, I always found it hard to read literature with advanced vocabulary and big words I didn’t understand. During the pandemic, I became a youth blogger with Youth Central and began exploring my writing style. In the end, I fell in love with adding a personal touch to my writing instead of making it formal. I wanted it to be easily understandable for people and fun for me to write. I became a blogger for this year’s mural project because I wanted to use my writing style to communicate my ideas to others and reach more people. We started off with a blank canvas, and as a group, contributed our ideas through activities and social media. We used Pinterest to share our ideas, which became a starting point for our final idea. We worked together online every day for a week to brainstorm ideas, colours, and the message we wanted the art piece to convey. As a blogger, I took notes and thought of ways I could incorporate the ideas into my writing. I explored different ways to make my writing more inclusive and avoid bias. In conclusion, I’ve learned a lot throughout this process, both about art and my writing style. I’ve met new people and found new interests. I hope to participate in next year's mural project as well.

Jessica Lock, Mural Artist

My name is Jessica Lock but most people refer to me as Jessi. Growing up I’ve always been into arts and crafts. I used to own many craft books and I would DIY stuff as well. Now I do more fine arts than crafts. I do not have a specific style and every medium I use will look different. Every year my favorite medium changes but one that I’ve continuously went back to would be mixed medium which is using more than one thing together. In my future, I hope to become an entrepreneur to sell my work, that was I can pursue what I am passionate about and share what I created with others. One thing I want people to think about when looking at art, no matter what type it is (ie. Music, drawings, dance, etc.) Would be that art is all about interpretation. Everyone who views art likes a certain thing, meaning something you might see as bad would be beautiful to someone else. So, if you or someone you know things badly upon the work done, then think about how someone else would love it.

Tanea Basharati, Mural Artist

My artistic process is very messy, rushed and jumps all over the place, just like my mind. I am an overthinker and I find that expressing my ideas through images suits me more than with words. That is why the weapon I wield to flush these thoughts out is a paintbrush. I found my love for art really young. I loved how through images you can tell a whole story without direct words, and people can interpret it and mold your piece to their mind. I believe art makes people vulnerable and shows our true thoughts and personality. My pieces and my process reflect my mind, and when I share them with the world, people get a sneak peek into my psyche. I find art very liberating. I can manipulate a blank canvas however my hands and mind desire. I can draw and create anything and I fell in love with that creative liberty. That is why I am proud to label myself an Artist and share my work with the world.