A section of a Windsor alley is now decked out in a colourful array of butterflies to symbolize the lives of people battling brain injuries.
The Butterfly Lane Mural Project is set up in the alley between Argyle Road and Devonshire Road in Old Walkerville, between Ontario Street and Richmond Street. The project includes a series of murals and colourful butterflies placed on fences, with each butterfly designed by a person with a brain injury.
According to the Brain Injury Association of Windsor-Essex (BIAWE), the project raises awareness of the "invisible" disability known as brain injury. Each mural is designed by a local artist, with each one featuring a butterfly one way or another.
BIAWE Executive Director Anna Jurak said the butterfly shows a life that goes through many changes, much like those experienced by a brain injury patient.
A mural included in the Butterfly Mural Project is shown in Windsor, September 29, 2021. Photo courtesy Brain Injury Association of Windsor-Essex/Facebook.
“This transformation symbolically represents hope and new beginnings and happens with help from the right people at the Brain Injury Association," said Jurak in a media release.
Each year, over 45,000 Canadians suffer a potentially life-altering brain injury, according to the BIAWE. More Canadians under 45 will die or be permanently disabled by brain injury than through any other cause.
The artists will be available on Sunday between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. to talk about their work. Booths and displays from the artists will be set up with butterfly cookies for sale. The event is free and open to everyone.
