Meet the Latin American women leaving their mark on Montreal, one mural at a time

Montreal's longstanding Latin American grocery store Sabor Latino has managed to become even more Latino with the help of two Argentinian muralists.

The side of the building in Montreal's Petite-Patrie neighbourhood now boasts the warm- and cool-toned artistry of painters Marila Tarabay and Alejandra Zeme, who work together under the name Nereidas R. 

The mural, titled The Seed Guardians, shows Latin American women coming together to preserve various seeds from fruits and vegetables. They're surrounded by some of Canada's endangered species and scenes depicting pressing environmental issues in this country.

"We idealized Canada in a way but soon found out that no, it deals with some of the same environmental problems — like forest fires, water contamination — that we see in Argentina," said Zeme. 

Their mural, completed last month, is the second that public art curator Rodrigo Ardiles is bringing to the Rosemont—La Petite-Patrie borough in collaboration with Plaza Saint-Hubert.

"There's a lot of untold stories in the neighbourhood," said Ardiles, a Chilean muralist now living in Montreal and the creative director of the non-profit Creativo Arts Collective.

The collective not only hosts muralists from Latin America but also co-ordinates opportunities for local artists to go there. The organization completed a similar project a few years ago with the Dundas West Open Air Museum in Toronto.

"Ideally we would like to have most of the countries represented here where the diasporas have a large amount of population," says Ardiles. "We would like to have artists reflect their integration, too."

A third mural by Uruguayan artist Florencia Durán Itzaina just outside the Beaubien Metro station was completed Monday with funding from the Uruguayan Consulate in Montreal.

That one depicts a group of women associated with the Centre d'aide aux familles latino-américaines (CAFLA), an organization that supports families recently immigrated from Latin America.

Durán Itzaina says leaving behind "giant women" in a space where they're safe and depicted working collaboratively has been a satisfying experience.

Ardiles commissioned the route's first mural by Mexican artist Dolores (Yuda) Navarro in 2022 with support from the Mexican Consulate in Montreal, but had to put the broader project on hold while he secured additional funding. 

Invitations have now been sent out to artists from El Salvador and the Dominican Republic.

He says he's putting a particular emphasis on women painters for the mural route in Montreal. Muralism, because it involves working on the streets, is often associated with male artists, he said.