‘We want to heal our community through art’: Exhibit honours victims of Lapu-Lapu tragedy

Artists came together in Vancouver Friday night to honour the lives lost six months ago in the Lapu-Lapu Day Festival attack.

Six months after the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy, artists gathered in Vancouver Friday to honour the lives lost and find healing through art.

The Healing Colours exhibit at the Sunset Community Centre showcases works by new and budding artists who have found healing, strength, and connection through art.

The works were created during an art therapy painting workshop for victims and those affected by the attack, which killed 11 people and injured dozens more on April 26.

Put on by Migrante B.C. and the Philippine Artists Network for Community Integrative Transformation, the exhibit bills itself as a celebration of artistic expression and a testament to the power of community and resilience.

“I myself was a witness to the carnage that happened in the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy; some of us have friends who have been directly affected by the tragedy,” said artist Diane Zapata with Migrante B.C.

“We want to heal our community through art.”

Her piece depicts a family saying goodbye at the airport as one embarks for work in another country.

“It’s one of the most heartbreaking experiences as a migrant worker I think, when you have to say goodbye to your family to find better fortune in a foreign country,” Zapata told CTV News.

“I wanted to show that anywhere we’re very vulnerable still in a new country so that’s why I wanted to represent that it’s a sacrifice to be a migrant worker.”

The Healing Colours exhibit will be on display until Nov. 7 at the Sunset Community Centre.