Mural art: the Francophonie on display at the library

Invited following a meeting at the Ontario Library Association Super Conference, the West Nipissing-born graffiti artist is accustomed to working with Francophone communities to create murals that reflect their messages, dreams and desires.

Mique, featured in TFO’s documentary series Couleurs du Nord, creates murals around the world. Her approach as an artist is to overturn negative stereotypes of graffiti and raise public awareness of the realities of visible and invisible minorities. 

Mique’s creative process is inclusive: “When I talk about graffiti, it’s for the community, it’s ‘by and for’ them. As French-speaking minorities, if there’s one thing that’s important to us, it’s the ‘by and for’ [the community]. And that’s exactly what graffiti and hip-hop allow us to do.”

In June 2024, Mique met with a dozen Francophone and Francophile participants from the University of Ottawa. That consultation with researchers, student leaders, archivists, Francophone advisers and campus media representatives marked the beginning of her creative process.

During those exchanges, members of the University community shared their ideas and visions of the Francophonie on campus, while learning about the principles of graffiti and hip-hop.

Daphnée Veilleux-Michaud, Francophone affairs commissioner at the University of Ottawa Students’ Union, attended the consultations and expressed her desire to see a work with a strong impact, particularly in a bilingual setting: “What I really hope is that the mural represents the whole of what the University of Ottawa is and the whole of its Francophone community.”

Archivist Marie Noël, for her part, stressed the importance of showing the Francophonie as a platform for dialogue that creates links between generations and of illustrating struggles that now continue in different ways.

Danika Gourgon, a PhD student in history, talked about the group’s aspirations for inclusion: “We’re really trying to show the diversity of the Francophonie.”

Energized by the discussions, Mique then set about working on two murals at Morisset Hall. The first work, titled French Kiss, now adorns the walls of the Media Centre, a space on the first floor of Morisset Library.

Inspired by the collection of feminist buttons in the Women’s Archives (Library Archives and Special Collections), the artist chose to represent the past, present and future of the Francophonie with a character wearing a jacket covered with badges, each referring to a significant date, a struggle, a slogan or a regionalism.

For Mique, this work is a kind of declaration of love to the Francophonie, hence the character with the trillium-shaped lips: “The goal of the mural is to give a big ‘French kiss,’ a kiss of Francophone pride, and to encourage people to discover more about the Francophonie and its excellence.”

The graffiti artist—an aficionada of the “Easter eggs” technique—likes to paint works packed with references to captivate her audience. The motifs represented in the mural include a nod to the Acadian and French flags, the shape of the African continent, a lily in the colours of the Pride flag, as well as the dates “1848” (founding of the University of Ottawa), “Sept. 25” (Franco-Ontarian Day), “June 24” (Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day, Quebec’s provincial holiday), “March 20” (International Francophonie Day), and “Sept. 3, 1979” (opening of the Penetanguishene resistance school). The mural also features a braid of sweetgrass (an Indigenous medicinal plant), a cassette of the band CANO, references to SOS Montfort and Regulation 17, and the Franco-Ontarian motto “Nous sommes, nous serons” (“We are, we will be”). Lastly, expressions such as “Icitte on French” (“we French here”) and “Lâche pas la patate!” (“hang in there!”) add a touch of local colour to the French language, linguistic insecurity be damned. 

The second mural, entitled Faire fleurir la francophonie, can be viewed on the promenade level (Level 0) at Morisset Hall, opposite the Library’s Archives and Special Collections and the Centre de recherche sur les francophonies canadiennes. This large floral work features several plants with strong symbolic value for Indigenous and Franco-Canadian communities: the Ontario trillium and lily, the wheat sheaf from the Franco-Manitoban flag, Alberta’s wild rose, a blue lily for Quebec, sage and tobacco seeds (medicinal plants), tea from Labrador, wild blueberries from Sudbury, clover flowers, wild garlic, red willow and milkweed.

Talia Chung, head librarian and dean of libraries, says there’s no doubt the two works hit the mark. In addition to their esthetic qualities, they reaffirm the University of Ottawa’s fundamentally bilingual character and Francophone mission:

“The murals painted by Mique Michelle allow the Library to showcase the cultural richness of our Francophone community, and energize our spaces. More than just a strategic priority, the Francophonie is central to our university mandate. That's why I’m so pleased we’ve been able to carry out this unifying project under the Canada–Ontario Agreement on Minority-Language Education and Second Official-Language Instruction. The end result is truly stunning, and I invite the entire University community to come and enjoy these works of public art!”

So, come one, come all to Morisset Library to see these works in person, and check out all the French “Easter eggs!”

Find out more:

• Browse our interactive diagram dedicated to the “French Kiss” mural
• Visit Mique Michelle’s website and check out her Instagram