SkyTrain columns next to new pathway get Indigenous public art wraps | Daily Hive

Indigenous artworks on SkyTrain Expo Line's columns next to Stewardson Way and the BC Parkway in New Westminster. (TransLink)

More than half a dozen bare concrete columns that support SkyTrain’s Expo Line in New Westminster now boast a burst of bright creative designs.

Last month, TransLink installed public art wraps for seven columns immediately adjacent to the newly-built segment of the BC Parkway’s pedestrian and cyclist pathways along Stewardson Way — specifically next to the pathways between 5th Avenue and 14th Street.

You might also like:

Each pillar’s art wrap design was created by a different Indigenous artist.

While each artwork tells a unique story, they collectively focus on the themes of the Indigenous connections to land, water, and community.

“Breath of Eulachon” by Stolo Nation’s Ronnie Dean Harris draws on the origin stories of eulachon and ecological balance, “Swimming and Flight, Movement in Sight” by Natache Gabriel of the Kwantlen Nation explores salmon life cycles, environmental decline, and symbolism of birds as hope and messengers, “Gifts of the Land” by Adele Arseneau of the Metis highlight medicinal plants as symbols of healing, identity, and intergenerational knowledge, and “Leaping into Change” by Gracielene Ulu of the Musqueam Nation uses the frog to represent transformation, community connection, and urban journeys.

skytrain expo line new westminster stewardson way public art

Indigenous artworks on SkyTrain Expo Line’s columns next to Stewardson Way and the BC Parkway in New Westminster. (TransLink)

“Breath of Eulachon” by Ronnie Dean Harris / Malō:yhleq – Kʷeləs. (TransLink)

“Swimming and Flight, Movement in Sight” by Natache Gabriel. (TransLink)

“Gifts of the Land” by Adele ᒪᐢᑿᓱᐤᐃᐢᑵᐤ Arseneau. (TransLink)

“Leaping into Change” by Gracielene Ulu. (TransLink)

“Qwo’ Xwong :: Water Cry” by Roxanne Charles of Semiahmoo First Nation features waterways to call attention to environmental degradation and responsibility; “Connections Through Time” by Austin Aan’yas Harry of the Squamish Nation and ‘Namgis Nation links ancestral travel routes to contemporary Indigenous youth identity through eagle and wolf symbolism, and “Octopus Sxweli” by Brandon Gabriel of the Kwantlen Nation depicts an octopus in confinement to explore displacement, resilience, and Indigenous presence in urban spaces.

These public art wraps also serve to deter unwanted graffiti on the concrete surfaces of the columns.

“Qwo’ Xwong : : Water Cry” by Roxanne Charles. (TransLink)

“Connections Through Time” by Austin Aan’yas Harry. (TransLink)

“Octopus Sxweli” by Brandon Gabriel. (TransLink)

In Spring 2025, TransLink and the City of New Westminster completed this new 0.75-km-long segment of the BC Parkway between River Street and 14th Street, featuring not only separate wide pathways for cyclists and pedestrians, but also improved nighttime lighting and street-level visibility for safety, a greater separation between the BC Parkway and Stewardson Way’s vehicle traffic, and safety upgrades at Stewardson Way’s intersections with River Drive, 5th Avenue, and 14th Street.

The Southern Railway of British Columbia provided some railyard land to enable the BC Parkway’s widening for a stretch within this segment. At this location, the widened pathway uses a footprint that was previously a railway track.

The $6-million cost for the pathway widening and upgrade project was jointly funded by the public transit authority and municipal government.

Elsewhere in the region, SkyTrain columns are also visually aesthetically improved in different ways, especially the installation of programmable nighttime LED lighting that illuminates the columns and underside of the elevated guideway on the Canada Line along No. 3 Road and the Millennium Line’s Evergreen extension along North Road in Burnaby/Coquitlam and Pinetree Way in Coquitlam City Centre.

In Fall 2025, the City of Burnaby also completed the years-long project of the installation of programmable nighttime LED lighting on the underside of SkyTrain Expo Line’s elevated guideway between Patterson Station and Edmonds Station. It was installed onto 178 concrete columns over a distance of five km immediately adjacent to a major segment of the BC Parkway’s pedestrian and cyclist pathways.

Such nighttime lighting also serves to improve public safety, especially for those using the pathway.

burnaby skytrain expo line metrotown accent lighting

New permanent programmable lighting installed on the SkyTrain Expo Line guideway near Metrotown Station. (City of Burnaby)

bc parkway illumination skytrain expo line burnaby

BC Parkway illumination of SkyTrain’s Expo Line guideway. (City of Burnaby)

You might also like: