Douglas Street in downtown Victoria has recently received a bit of a facelift. The street is now lined with banners depicting new work by Coast Salish artist Dylan Thomas.

Earlier this year, the City of Victoria held a call to artists to submit their ideas for the Summer Banner program. Through the selection process, Dylan’s designs were chosen, and are now on display.

In a statement, Dylan said “As a person with Lekwungen (Songhees) heritage, who was born and raised in Victoria, I feel a profound connection to this area in its modern, historical and pre-historical contexts, all of which I’ve tried to capture in my banner designs. (….) For these banners, I’ve symbolized some of the lesser-known aspects of this territory’s history and mythology.”

Dylan created four new designs for the program:

Born On The Shores honours Dylan’s grandmother as one of the last people born in the Old Songhees Village before the reserve was relocated.

Camossung describes the legend of a girl who was turned into a boulder located at Tillicum Narrows, where fresh and salt water merge with each changing of the tides.

Building The Bastion takes us back to when Victoria was founded. It symbolizes the historical cooperation between the local Lekwungen People and European settlers to build Fort Victoria.

Reef-Nets pays homage to the Salish method of reef net fishing and the sacred salmon cycle.

The banners will be on display until October.