Portrait series by local artist takes over Calgary’s East Village Riverwalk

Calgary’s Jack & Jean Leslie Riverwalk in East Village is now the home to a new portrait series by a homegrown artist.

The Calgary Municipal Land Corporation (CMLC) says Alex Kwong is the brains behind Kitao’wahsinnooni: What Sustains Us.

The installation is the latest in CMLC’s Art in the Public Realm program, which has been in place since 2010.

Kitao’wahsinnooni: What Sustains Us is the new feature on the Riverwalk mural, which showcases local artists every three years.

CMLC says the temporary canvas allows artists to take risks, expand artistic boundaries, and tell a cohesive story across several walls and surfaces.

“One of the central goals of our RiverWalk Mural program is to create opportunities for Calgary-based artists to share their voices and connect meaningfully with public space,” said Emma Stevens, director, Communications & External Relations at CMLC. “Projects like this show how local stories, expressed through public art, can transform our shared environment—creating an open-air gallery that invites reflection, discovery, and connection for all.”

Kwong’s concept was chosen by a volunteer, community-based jury, and replaces Cassie Suche’s Touch Traces, which was showcased from 2022-2025.

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Through an extensive engagement process, Kwong connected with individuals who shared stories about their personal relationships to the Bow and Elbow Rivers, and these conversations became the creative foundation for the work.

The artist says one of the biggest influences on the series was a conversation with Rod Scout, a Blackfoot Elder, who eventually became the subject of one of the murals.

“Elder Rod shared so much history about the Blackfoot connection with the river—stories I had never heard before,” said Kwong. “He offered me the Blackfoot word Kitaó’wahsinnooni, which translates roughly to ‘what sustains us.’

“People have a history with the river that goes back tens of thousands of years. The river carries an energy that draws people to it — whether through cultural practice, wellness rituals, or the everyday memories formed along its banks. When Rod shared that word with me, it felt like the perfect alignment — it was in the right place, with the right people, in the right setting. Every conversation I had during this project felt meaningful, filled with synchronicity, and underlined by the same truth: that the river sustains us all in different ways.”

Six bridge abutments and structural surfaces along the Riverwalk now feature Kwong’s art, which tells a story of heritage, healing, resilience, and community through the lived experience of everyday people whose lives are connected to the river.

Alanna Bluebird, Elder Rod Scout, Jay Jones, Henri and Donna Boulanger with Dee, Parisa Radmanesh, and, symbolically, the residents of the Calgary Drop-In Centre contributed stories to inspire and inform the artwork.