UNESCO City of Music Mural

On November 8, 2021, the City of London was recognized as Canada’s first UNESCO City of Music. What better way to celebrate this occasion than by the creation of a music-themed mural by one of London’s talented visual artists? Tova Hasiwar, a passionate supporter of the London music scene, worked with The City of London, the London Arts Council, and RBC Place London to paint a five-panel mural at RBC Place London – a place where people from all over the nation and the world come for special events, conferences, and conventions. Hasiwar’s process was rooted in her experience with the local music scene, the practice of process-based art, and her love of pop art. Brightly painted on fine mahogany boards, the mural features Hasiwar’s characteristic layered approach; deploying interlacing broad arcs, painted in a repeating series of crisp lines covered by an array of neon green spray-painted dots that depict sound waves on a digital monitor. All of this was done while live musical performances were happening in her studio. A series of resin dyed clear circular forms, reminiscent of vinyl records or CDs, repeat across the length of the mural, giving the impression of movement of both time and space – playing a visual and visceral cue to a song in the viewer’s mind. One thing is for certain, as Hasiwar remarks, “London draws talent from neighboring communities, weaving together a meaningful collaboration of various cultures and identities.” This unifying aspect, a harmony of sorts, flows through the entirety of the mural, doing the thing that music does best – connecting.