Steps Forward: 150th Anniversary Yellow Staircase Mural Project

Since the opening of the Sharp Centre in 2004, the Yellow Staircase has stood as one of OCAD University’s most vibrant—and complex—sites of community expression.

It has been at turns messy and magnificent, political and playful, chaotic and deeply moving. Layered with creativity, dissent, memorialization, celebration and critique, the staircase has long captured the raw, unfiltered pulse of our students.

For OCAD U’s 150th anniversary, this space invites us to honour that history while imagining new possibilities: elevating the spirit of openness and experimentation that has defined it, while embracing forms of creative intervention that inspire connection, respect, and pride.

Featuring work by Alexa Morrison, Mataya Guy, Jordyn Hendricks, Caylen Monroe, the Dreamzzz collective (Minjeong Ju, Lisa Shao, and Liam Ethan), and the Mature Student Collective with community coordination by Faven Bell-Jerome.

Alexa Morrison is a Scarborough-born visual artist working across illustration, design, and photography. Their work explores shared, everyday experiences through a humorous, exaggerated, and colourful lens, with thoughtful compositions and deliberate colour palettes.

Mataya Guy is a Bachelor of Illustration student with a practice focused on comics and murals, specializing in traditional watercolour and pencil crayon to produce highly detailed work.

Jordyn Hendricks (they/them) is a two-spirited Michif artist with familial and ancestral ties to the Red River region. Hendricks’ practice is multidisciplinary, engaging with themes of spirituality, the land-self relationship, and considering the full spectrum of human experience.

Caylen Monroe is a queer, non-binary, Mad-identified visual artist working across oil painting, mixed media, and installation. Grounded in anti-oppressive frameworks, their practice explores disability justice, feminism, and LGBTQ+ representation, approaching art-making as a form of care, resistance, and translating theory into intimate, lived experience.

Dreamzzz is a trio of third-year OCAD U Illustration students—Minjeong Ju, Lisa Shao, and Liam Ethan—united by a love of storytelling and community, with each bringing a distinct visual voice. Minjeong works in editorial illustration and socially engaged design, blending cultural awareness with emotional depth. Lisa draws from memory, movement, and connection, creating work attentive to the quiet textures of shared life. Liam brings a background in graphic novels and concept art, grounding fantastical worlds in human-centred narratives.

The Mature Student Collective is a recognized student group for members aged 25 and older, with approximately 140 members ranging from their 20s to 70s. The Collective hosts two annual art exhibitions, Come Hang with Me and Pentimento, showcasing work across a variety of mediums. Their exhibitions reflect on members’ diverse ages, backgrounds, values, artistic practices, and lived experiences, offering a rich and varied perspective on the OCAD U student experience.

Steps Forward is presented by OCAD U's Campus Life office.