Mural by Mono Sourcil

This work brings together a street-art vocabulary and a urban approach. Its value does not come from applying decoration to architecture: the mural gains meaning through its scale, its surface and the way it is encountered in a real place.

Active since 2012 · Neighborhood: Plateau-Mont-Royal / Hochelaga Maxilie Martel—alias Mono Sourcil—paints the crowds she wishes to see. In her murals, teeming with colorful and diverse figures, she envisions an ideal community: not perfect, but open, curious, and joyful in its own plurality. It is an artistic and political project alike, woven into the fabric of the Plateau and Hochelaga neighborhoods since 2012. "I depict hybrid, colorful communities by amassing a variety of characters to celebrate unity, the acceptance of differences, and a collective sense of belonging. My practice is also evolving toward organic compositions inspired by nature." Trained at UQAM and later at Concordia—where she earned a master’s degree in sculpture in 2020, a discipline that profoundly influences her relationship with space and form—Maxilie Martel simultaneously developed an intensive mural practice under the name Mono Sourcil. Her work reflects deeply on issues of coexistence and inclusion in contemporary society, yet it does so with lightness, humor, and an infectious, generous use of color. Her murals, populated by hybrid and colorful figures, have captivated both cultural institutions and major brands—such as Lexus, Desjardins, and Guinness—confirming the universal appeal of her message. In 2024, she held her first solo exhibition at the Maison de la culture de NDG, a significant milestone in a career that is increasingly establishing itself in indoor spaces without ever abandoning the street. Her practice constantly moves between disciplines: murals, painting, performance art, illustration, and sculpture. This formal fluidity aligns with her vision of art as a total experience—a presence in the world that refuses to be confined to a single category. Her most recent murals, which incorporate personified flowers, show an evolution toward more organic, quieter compositions that complement the exuberance of her colorful crowds.

Mono Sourcil, whose practice is connected with Montréal, develops a visual world that can be followed from one wall to another. Captions and archives connected to this body of work document several mural interventions. These points of reference place the image within a practice rather than treating it as an isolated visual.