Laurier student’s art featured on a bus for Black History Month

For one Wilfred Laurier University student this month, representation is on a roll. 

Vanessa Nkansah-Okoree is a master’s of health science student whose art was selected to decorate a local Waterloo bus in commemoration of Black History Month.  

Ms. Nkansah-Okoree’s bus wrap was unveiled on Feb. 2 and is the first of its kind for GRT. Developed in collaboration with the Canadian Caribbean Association of Waterloo Region, it follows the theme of “Black Excellence: Past, Present, Future”.  

The design features 14 Black individuals of varying appearance and age, including a woman with albinism and a person with vitiligo.  

Along the top of the sides are the words “Past strength, present brilliance, future promise” and “#BLACK EXCELLENCE,” all in line with the region’s theme for the month. 

On the back of the bus is a tree flanked by two Black seniors, one man and one woman. Ms. Nkansah-Okoree said the tree represents the past, present and future with its roots, trunk and branches, respectively.  

“We are one, but we’re also diverse within our community, so I really wanted to showcase that,” she said.  

Her artwork was chosen after a call for submissions by Grand River Transit (GRT), the Waterloo region’s transit agency.  

She said she decided to apply after being sent the information by someone she met at an art event. Ms. Nkansah-Okoree said she had “no expectations at all,” but thought “what’s the worst that could happen?”  

The artwork also features a gradient of green, yellow and red, which not only represent Pan-Africanism but are also the colours of the Ghanaian flag, representing the artist’s heritage.  

“Vanessa’s design beautifully represents the vibrancy and diversity within the Black community and celebrates the cultural diversity of the Black community in Waterloo Region, which is why it was selected by the region’s Black History Month committee,” the group said in a statement via email. 

Ms. Nkansah-Okoree said this is the biggest project she’s worked on. She’s been drawing since 2015 and has created digital art since 2020, starting by drawing the characters from cartoons and anime she would watch. It wasn’t until a friend suggested she post her art that she created a dedicated Instagram page and began sharing her art and attending events to showcase or sell her work.  

For Ms. Nkansah-Okoree, the representation the bus provides is the most important part of the opportunity. 

“You could just be walking around outside minding your business, and you see the bus and like, ‘Oh wow, some of those characters look like me.’”  

She said that when she was growing up in Waterloo, there weren’t many Black people in school or in the media she consumed. It wasn’t until she started university that she understood the importance of community. 

“It is one bus, but it’s like a ripple of the water. The effects of people seeing it will stretch far beyond what I myself could even say or do.”