On the Legislature grounds, one of many statues, Herman Poulin’s Service Through Christ stands in weather and silence, stage right at the front door of democracy. Sister Mary’s shoes, worn thin by imagined miles, gather tent‑worm nests and oily residue the way public institutions gather gatekeepers. Her feet tell a gentler truth: service ages, service erodes, and service can stray.
Yet inside City Hall, “private property” rules keep citizens from filming their own democracy — a lesson I learned firsthand when management, security, and Northern Alberta Commissionaires told me to stop recording our Mayor, City Councillors, and an in‑residence artist unveiling a 700‑pound taxpayer‑funded egg. As all sculptures endure in the open and closed air, honest in its wear, a reminder that what is public is often what is neglected, and what is sacred is what governments don’t allow us to hear, see, or question as citizens. We, are left to draw upon our own conclusions. XLife
XLife, Art is Freedom
Wash🍁US all for Freedom, O' Canada
2016, Banned, Fire & Rain Art Project, 2026
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XLife
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Cover Art: My Quick Draw sketch study of the Makrana, mining pits of death in India, created inside the Art Gallery of Alberta, now serves as the cover art for my 13‑minute Citizen Free News YouTube report from last Sunday’s June 28, 2026 Peaceful rally for Jammu and Kashmir on the Alberta Legislature steps.
