“This painting is nice, but I wish it were more political.” Exploring the challenges and dilemmas of community art with LGBT refugees

Recent works on social justice and human rights show that arts-based methodologies help to create greater opportunities for understanding and empathy for marginalized communities. Despite claims that arts provide a beneficial platform for community development and social justice, very little work has been done to reflect critically on what implementing a community art project looks like on the ground. This paper is a critical reflection of organizing and implementing a community mural project with lesbian, gay, bisexual, and trans (LGBT) refugees in Vancouver, British Columbia. Called Painted Stories, the project involved 15 LGBT refugees working together to create a large public mural and short documentary about their experiences. Painted Stories bring up critical questions regarding community representation and social justice, especially in regard to representing violence and trauma in public art.