Project: New St Paul Hospital Public Art - Wellness Walk

Project type: Public Art Competition

Position: Shortlisted Finalist

Year: 2023

Location: Vancouver

As a finalist for the St. Paul’s Hospital Wellness Walk public art competition, Divine Ndemeye proposed Moon Healing Sculptural Garden—a series of rammed earth and stainless steel gates that weave together Afrofuturism and ethnobotany. Inspired by the moon’s cyclical rhythms and its role in sustaining life, each gate frames a passage along the hospital’s wellness path, offering a contemplative experience of movement and restoration. The sculptural gates feature laser-cut botanical patterns—sacred plant beings drawn from African and Coast Salish healing traditions—symbolizing resilience, healing, and interconnectedness.

The project pays homage to the unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh peoples, as well as the historical presence of Vancouver’s Black community in nearby Hogan’s Alley. The use of a “moon gate” form also references Chinese garden design, connecting the site to the adjacent Chinatown neighborhood and its cultural symbolism of good fortune and renewal.

Through this layered approach, Moon Healing Sculptural Garden extends the hospital’s values of care and wellness into the public realm—offering a space of passage, beauty, and healing for patients, visitors, and community alike.