SELECT MURALS + VINYLS
Sandeep has created murals and vinyls for festivals (Vancouver Mural Festival, Nelson Mural Festival, Wall to Wall Winnipeg), galleries (Vancouver Art Gallery, Surrey Art Gallery, The Reach Gallery), municipalities and business improvement associations (New Westminster, Coquitlam, Sunset on Fraser BIA), property developers (Century Group, Lowtide Properties, Anthem Property Group), as well as for clients (Lululemon, Bard on the Beach, and Jam Jar Canteen).
SELECT MURALS + VINYLS
2024 | INFINITE POSSIBILTY
Paint by numbers mural design (in brand colours) commissioned by AbCellera for their annual staff party, Vancouver, BC
2024 | FULL BLOOM
Paint by number mural design commissioned by Paintillio as part of the Creative Industries Expo at SXSW in Austin, Texas (March 10-13, 2024)
Oct 14, 2023 - Jun 15, 2024 | MOTHERLAND, MOTHER-HAND
Community mural project commissioned by the Reach Gallery for the Des Pardes Exhibition
Located at 32388 Veterans Way, Abbotsford, BC | Photo credit: Rachel Topham Photography
”This mural is a testament to the unity and creative agency of South Asian women in Abbotsford. Designed by visionary artist Sandeep Johal especially for this exhibition, Motherland - Mother Hand came into being thanks to the artistic contributions of Alka Sharma, Kanta Naik, Jasmeen Bhagirath, Esha Razia, Devyani Bhise and Kiran Toor. Both its composition and the mode of its production encapsulate the historical and contemporary resilience, strength, and nurturing spirit of these women. Through a collaborative process, these women came together and infused their distinct voices into every stroke and hue, championing the profound significance of women in the cultural tapestry of South Asian Canadian communities.” -Kelley Tialiou, Curator of Art & Visual Culture, The Reach Gallery Museum
2023 | SWING INTO SPRING
Photo tex mural design commissioned by VMF Agency for Central City Shopping Centre
Located at 2153 Central City 10153 King George Blvd, Surrey BC | Photo Credit: Phil Tifo
2022 | UNTITLED
Exterior mural commissioned by Anthem Properties for Georgetown One
Located at 13685 102 Avenue, Surrey, BC
2022 | COME AS YOU ARE
Exterior mural commissioned by Sunset on Fraser Business Improvement Association
Located at 6204 Fraser Street, Vancouver BC
2022 | IT’S NOT WHAT YOU LOOK AT THAT MATTERS, IT’S WHAT YOU SEE
Window vinyl commissioned by Surrey Art Gallery
Located at 13759 88 Ave, Surrey BC
2022 | UNTITLED
Interior mural commissioned by St. John’s Junior School as part of artist residency
Located at 2215 West 10th Avenue, Vancouver BC
2021 | WHAT HOPE SHALL WE GATHER, WHAT DREAMS SHALL WE SOW?
Interior mural commissioned by Vancouver Art Gallery x Vancouver Art Rental and Sales Program for the inaugural #SpotlightVanArtRental Program
Located at 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC | Photo Credit: Ian Lefebvre
“After listening to an evening news report on the murder of 28-year-old Sabina Nessa only months after the brutal killing of 33-year-old Sarah Everard, both in London, England, Sandeep Johal determined to focus her mural on a theme that addresses much of her practice – the ongoing threat of violence against women and girls.
Johal’s mural presents various personifications:
On the larger wall is The Three-Breasted Woman representing feelings of anger while The Woman with a Tiger embodies hope for a better future. The Tiger signifies action which the artist explains - “It’s action that propels these feelings into something tangible which can effect change in the world.” The Creeping Hands appearing throughout the mural characterize the omnipresent threat of violence that women around the world encounter daily.
On the smaller wall is The Goddess seated in a shrine surrounded by several geometric shapes and symbols. The drawing resembles an earlier series Rest in Power (2017) by the artist that included 12 goddesses drawn in ink and surrounded as she is here by patterns and symbols. The goddess here is the embodiment of all women who have been victims of violence and her shrine honours the lives of these women, those present and those past.
On the reverse is The Lioness a hybrid character with the body of a lion and head of a woman. The lioness as characterised here and in many transcultural readings is a symbol of female power. Female lions are known to support one another during a hunt, which enables them to overpower their prey, and these themes of respect and cooperation underline the message of collective strength and resilience in Johal’s work.
The windows and entrance way are covered in vinyl adhesive that pull from and highlight the various characters, symbols and patterns depicted in the wall mural. Together the hand-painted installation and vinyl both address the ongoing threat of violence against women but most importantly assert a collective strength and empowerment through the centring of female deities and narratives.” - Diana Freundl, Senior Curator, Vancouver Art Gallery
2021 | STILL WE RISE
Exterior mural commissioned by Lowtide Properties x Vancouver Mural Festival
Located at 855 East Hastings Street, Vancouver BC | Photo Credit: Gabriel Martins
2021 | A LOVE LETTER TO MITHAI
Exterior mural commissioned by Punjabi Market x Vancouver Mural Festival for Murals in the Market
Located at 6587 Main Street (Himalaya Restaurant), Vancouver BC
Vancouver’s Punjabi Market was the first of its kind in North America. For the first time in its 51 year history, a series of murals have been painted between 49th and 51st Avenues on Main Street. Murals in the Market, in partnership with Vancouver Mural Festival, is the Punjabi Market Regeneration Collective’s initiative to help facilitate storytelling through public art by collaborating with local BIPOC artists to deliver a series of murals in Punjabi Market.
2021 | OUR MEMORIES
Ground mural created in partnership with Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre, South Vancouver Neighbourhood House, and the City of Vancouver
Located at Ross Park, Vancouver BC | Photo Credit: Joseph Bronson
This artwork reflects the written and oral stories shared by ten storytellers—Darshan Sangha, Harjinder Grewal, Harvinder Aulakh, Kanta Kalia, Kulwant Shoker, Manjit Jugpal, Paramjit Kalkat, Ravinder Hundal, Shanti Devi Toor, and Suminder Gill—as part of creative writing and storytelling circles led by artist Alyssa Martens from the Arts & Health: Healthy Aging Through the Arts project at Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre.
The first frame depicts a water buffalo (ਮੱਝ), referencing childhood stories about village life in India. Two dancing girls, their hair flowing, signify carefree youth. These lead into stories of migration to Canada—the hearts trailing behind the plane symbolizing all that was left behind. Cooking scenes celebrate the importance of food in Indian culture, the love and relationships that grow through shared meals. Birds in the tree reflect the legacy left behind by the storytellers—their children and grandchildren. Lastly, there is a flashback—a treasured memory of cooking over a camp-style open fire or (ਚੁਲਾ).
2021 | UNTITLED
Interior and exterior murals commissioned by Century Group Development for Solaro
Located at 22304 50 Ave, Langley BC | Photo Credit: Provoke Studios
2020 | MIM + RORI
Exterior murals commissioned by Pizzeria Barbarella
Located at 654 East Broadway, Vancouver BC
2020 | ONE DAY
Exterior mural commissioned by Nelson International Mural Festival
Located on the Parkade in the parking lot of the Hume Hotel at 422 Vernon Street, Nelson BC
2020 | HANG IN THERE
Temporary exterior mural commissioned by Vancouver Mural Festival
Located at 1132 Robson Street, Vancouver BC
Vancouver Mural Festival partnered with a number of local businesses and Business Improvement Associations to support local artists while bringing hope and positivity to the streets in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. With boarded up windows becoming an increasingly common occurrence in neighbourhoods across the city, VMF enlisted a large group of its alumni and other local artists to donate temporary mural work to these locations. All artists designed imagery and messages to spark joy and/or celebrate the resilience of our communities. #MakeArtWhileApart
2019 | FULL CIRCLE
Exterior mural commissioned by Uptown Mural Festival
Located at Valley First Credit Union at Highway 33 and Rutland Rd, Kelowna BC | Photo credit: Megan Bowers
2019 | Temporary mural commissioned by Kaleidoscope Festival
Coquitlam BC
2019 | Taike-sye’yə
Exterior mural commissioned by Vancouver Mural Festival
Located at 125 East 10th Avenue, Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Gabriel Hall
Musqueam artists Alicia Point and Cyler Sparrow-Point and South-Asian Canadian artists Keerat Kaur, Sunroop Kaur, and Sandeep Johal and historian Naveen Girn have produced a collaborative site-specific mural named Taike-Sye’yə. This mural centers the commemoration of the Komagata Maru Episode that occurred in 1914 in the Burrard Inlet where 368 predominantly Sikh passengers were denied entrance to Canada based on the newly created "Continuous Passage Law" designed to block immigration of racialized people into Canada. Specifically, the artwork depicts oral accounts given by both South Asian and Musqueam community members who tell of the Musqueam paddlers who canoed out across the inlet to feed the passengers on the boat as they were blocked access to the shore for 62 days. The collaborative mural transforms 4,000 square feet of the exterior wall of the Harry Stevens Federal Building at 125 East 10th Avenue (Vancouver) into a highly visible public site of remembrance and site for sparking dialogue regarding promotion of cultural redress with Indigenous and South Asian communities. Note: The Harry Stevens, the building’s namesake, was a central governmental figure in the denial of the passenger's entry into Canada during the Komagata Maru Episode.
2019 | UNFOLD YOUR OWN MYTH
Temporary exterior mural commissioned by Bard on the Beach for their 30th Anniversary
Vancouver, BC
2019 | UNTITLED
Interior mural commissioned by Jamjar Canteen
Located at 2290 Commercial Drive, Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Laara Cerman
2019 | MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE
Temporary interior mural commissioned by Lululemon Men’s Store at Park Royal
Located at 1000 Main Street, West Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Laara Cerman
2019 | MEET ME IN THE MIDDLE
Temporary interior mural commissioned by Lululemon Women’s Store at Park Royal
Located at 1000 Main Street, West Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Laara Cerman
2019 | ALTARS
Interior murals commissioned by Vancouver Art Gallery as part of the interpretive area for Moving Still: Performative Photography in India
Located at 750 Hornby Street, Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Ian Lefebvre
The Vancouver Art Gallery has partnered with a number of community and research partners to develop a rich picture of India’s ecology. Through video documentation, exhibition publications and an ongoing schedule of public programming, this interpretive space is organized for viewers to consider and expand on the themes in the exhibition Moving Still: Performative Photography In India. In collaboration with the Gallery, Vancouver-based writer Sirish Rao has selected quotes related to the themes of the exhibition. These propositions appear above the four niches and are further communicated through accompanying wall murals by local artist Sandeep Johal. Each corner includes a selection of books and artist monographs, in addition to a large monitor screening biographical videos, artist talks, films and other contextual documentation related to the exhibition.
2018 | UNTITLED
Exterior mural commissioned by Wall to Wall Mural Festival
Located at 126 Sherbrook Street, Winnipeg MB | Photo credit (left): Emily Christie
2018 | UNTITLED
Interior mural commissioned by Century Group Development for Civic Hotel
Located at 13475 Central Avenue, Surrey BC | Photo credit: Laara Cerman
2018 | RAISE YOUR WORDS, NOT YOUR VOICE
Exterior mural commissioned by Vancouver Mural Festival for ArtSmash
Located at Chain + Forge, Granville Island, Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Maria Angerilli (top), Carlos Bonmati (bottom)
2018 | FRIEND OR FOE
Interior mural created for Thrive Art Studio group show at Kafkas Coffee and Tea, Vancouver BC
Photo credit: Laara Cerman
2017 | GIRLS ARE FIERCE LIKE TIGERS
Exterior mural commissioned by Vancouver Mural Festival
Located at 147 East Broadway, Vancouver BC | Photo credit: Joseph Bronson (top), The Daily Hive Van (bottom)
2017 | FLOW
Mural design commissioned by the City of New Westminster
Located at Front Street between 6th and Begbie, New Westminster BC |Painted by Jason Statler | Photo credit: Biliana Velkova
2016 | UNTITLED
Mural commissioned by Strathcona BIA in partnership with the HxBIA as part of the Hastings Urban Tree Nursery
Located at Jackson Avenue and Powell Street, Vancouver BC