Art meets utility

Aylmer’s Bell boxes get modern upgrade

Nick Seebruch

To promote art and beauty in the city, Gatineau called on local artists to express themselves on Bell’s brown utility boxes around the city. The idea originated in Toronto in 2007, and transplanted to Gatineau by Candace Anka and City Project Manager Marie-Eve St. Pierre.

This project is a part of the larger city program for the Prevention of Tags and Graffiti. “Graffiti is a really popular art form right now,” said St. Pierre. “It has become a major problem in Hull though.”

The Bell utility boxes, in particular, have attracted a lot of graffiti and tagging. Candace Anka suggested the idea of the community choosing the art that goes on the boxes after she had a Bell box installed in front of her home. “I knew having a box on our property would attract graffiti and tagging, and you can’t block access to the box by putting up a fence around it,” Anka said.

Some of the artists chosen, such as Jean-François Henri and Luskasz Brober, are known in the graffiti community for having taken part in the City’s Annual Graffiti Contest.

In all, about 20-25 artists were given the opportunity to put their work on Bell boxes around the city. Jean-François Henri is responsible for the mural on the Bell box at 26 rue Brook in Aylmer. Marie-Eve St. Pierre said that Luskasz Brober has been selected to cover some other boxes in Aylmer that are still bare, like the one at 12 Broad.