Artist Aquil Virani creates live painting at Mural Festival in Montreal.

Why is it important to support underrepresented artists?

At Montreal’s Mural Festival on Saint-Laurent Boulevard, hundreds of public participants answered the question, “Why is it important to support underrepresented artists?” The goal was to draw attention to the predominantly white and male roster of artists being featured. Artist Aquil Virani collaged these multilingual responses into the background of a live painting, depicting Montreal-based actor and comedian Sehar Manji.