Located at 83 West Pender St. in Vancouver's Downtown Eastside, the Land Back mural is a community crowdfunded project featuring the work of more than 35 graffiti writers.

The four month-long project brought together artists who may not have collaborated before.

"Not everyone on that wall likes one another. That's the reality of it. Some of them have beefs with one another but we were all able to come together on this project and bring it to completion, so that's a really good thing," says Trey Helten, organizer for the project.

Trey Helten, organizer of the Land Back mural project - Photo: Gunargie O'Sullivan

The choice of the words LAND BACK at the center of the mural resulted from community consultation on the "DTES, Updates, News and Events" Facebook page, which has over 6,000 members.

"We said we're going to do a large piece here. We want to know what the community wants and the overwhelming response was we want something indigenous that shows indigenous strength and courage," continues Helten.

The logistics involved in painting a six-storey building weren't without challenges. Helten reached out to the Vancouver Mural Festival, who provided advice on how to work around power lines. He also had to make sure that the use of a costly lift wasn't wasted.

"There was a push, a real hard push to finish, but we got it done," he said.

Listen to the CFRO interview below: