A mural where biking is part of the new normal in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic will soon take shape at the Marcos Highway near the Heroes mural for health care workers.
Councilor Leandro Yangot, Jr. told mayor Benjamin Magalong Wednesday that work will definitely by next week as materials and equipment needed will be put in place at the venue at the wall at the junction of Legarda Road or where the Police Station 5 once stood.
“It’s a go but then our artists should wait for their talent fee by early next year,” said Magalong during a meeting with Yangot, artist Gladys Labsan and Eugene Valbuena of the city administrator’s office.
The mural, that could measure at least 50 by 12 feet high shows nine figures on bike with the Mount Santo Tomas as a background.
“It was a moment at the Loakan Road where one of our fellow bikers rendered it graphically to come out with the proposed mural,” said Valbuena, who leads the City Hall’s Viking squad and are on a weekly session most of the time with the mayor.
Valbuena said the mural’s study was done by fellow biker Homer Rigonan as the latter also made a digital rendition showing the study plastered at the Marcos Highway – Legarda intersection wall.
Yangot said that the mural will involve at least nine artists in his free art lessons at the park, all facilitators that include Heroes Wall of Fame mural artists Labsan and Ged Alangui, spouses Hermie and Cara Bruno as well as members of the Baguio Educators Arts Guild, Yangot himself and several others as well as several apprentice artists all “graduates” of the free arts lessons.
Magalong said that biking is now a way of life and asked the group that each figure will represent a sector of the society like a nurse, cop, student, teacher and others.
In a Facebook post, Yangot said: “We thank mayor Benjie Magalong for the trust and confidence in our group. We were tasked to do the mural painting at the corner of Marcos Highway and Legarda road.”
Yangot said the mural could be finished by December 30 and to be launched come January 2023.
Meanwhile, Magalong also said that he wants same group to make a mural on the state of the Buyog Watershed at the Pinget-Quirino Hill which is getting smaller every year due to encroachment.
“We want to send the message that it should be stopped,” said Magalong saying that it is one of the city’s watersheds and water sources.
The group is also joining Climate Reality Project Philippines to raise awareness on climate change and join the worldwide movement to “act now”. Pigeon Lobien