Explore Edmonton’s new augmented reality community mural project Paint the Rails by going on your own self-guided Instagrammable LRT tour this summer (or whenever you might be reading this blog post).
The Paint the Rails project features five murals at five LRT transit stations across Edmonton.
The murals address images and topics of colonization, reclamation and reconciliation. They represent diverse cultural communities and history inspired by local artists, elders, historians and knowledge keepers.
I’ve partnered with Edmonton’s John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights to highlight their Paint the Rails project (this post is sponsored).
The Paint the Rails project features five transit station murals created by local artists AJA Louden, Carla Rae Taylor, Dana_Belcourt, and Matthew Cardinal.
Visiting these murals and reading the stories behind the murals is not only a great activity to do on your own or within your household /co-hort, but also absolutely a tangible action you can take to educate yourself on colonization, reclamation and reconciliation specific to our city.
It’s not your typical ‘Instagrammable’ Wall tour but it’s beautiful and meaningful public art to experience. Maybe you take the LRT every day and you had noticed the art pieces before but had never stopped to read about them—here’s your chance! Maybe you never take the LRT, this would be a great way to see the city in a way you never have before, along with learning stories about the diverse communities of the city.
Plan your self-guided Instagrammable Edmonton LRT Mural Tour!
Along with telling important cultural stories, Paint the Rails also includes a really cool Augmented Reality component (and is Edmonton’s first-ever augmented reality community mural project).
Download and use the free Paint the Rails app to animate the murals and really bring the stories to life through your phone! Once you have the app downloaded, just open and point it at the mural you’re visiting to see different sections of the mural animate on your screen. Additional context and stories about the murals depicted can also be found using the app.
I recently learned all about the app and project from artist AJA Louden, you can watch the short video below:


Explore Edmonton by LRT and dive into our city’s cultural history.
The Paint the Rails murals are located at:
- Returning Home (Churchill LRT)
- The River (University LRT)
- Strong as a Forest (Corona LRT)
- Stories the Weave Us (Kingsway Transit Centre)
- Fabric of the City (Clareview LRT)
Learn about each mural and use the maps below for reference on how to find the murals:






Maps hand drawn by mentee artist Dana Belcourt with finished design by AJA Louden
You can also help fund the creation of the Paint the Rails: Legacy Book and support the important work of the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights by purchasing the Paint the Rails colouring book.
- Donate to the Paint the Rails project
- Meet the Paint the Rails project artists
- Watch videos about the Paint the Rails project
The Paint the Rails project was created by the John Humphrey Centre for Peace and Human Rights in partnership with the Edmonton Heritage Council, Edmonton Transit, Stollery Foundation, Edmonton Arts Council, Shevchenko Foundation, City of Edmonton, CN Foundation, Government of Alberta and Alberta Foundation for the Arts.
This post is sponsored by the John Humphrey Centre.



Linda
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