SNFU singer Chi Pig memorialized in new mural on Cambie Hotel
The punk legend lives on in artists Lacey & Layla’s portrait
The wispy grey beard and mouth of the punk-rock legend are the first part of the mural at the heritage haunt. Photo by Jameson Trenholm
A MASSIVE new portrait of late SNFU punk icon Chi Pig is going up on the Cambie Hotel and Pub, one of his favourite haunts.
Artists Lacey Jane and Layla Folkmann are painting the image of the hardcore singer’s face along one wall of the historic building.
Chi Pig died in July at age 57, after years of hard living.
“As the front man in the legendary hardcore band SNFU, Chi ignited the hearts and minds of countless people with his own version of electric, groundbreaking music,” it says on the GoFundMe page, launched by friend Jameson Trenholm to memorialize the Edmonton-born singer; it’s aiming to raise $6,000 and still needed about $400 to get to its target this morning. “Chi was not only a musician, he was a painter, skateboarder, fashion figure and one of the first openly gay Canadian punks in the scene.
”Chi was a bright light in a neighborhood riddled with addiction, mental illness, homelessness and poverty. In the streets of the DTES and Gastown Chi fought his own battle with mental illness. Despite his demons Chi still managed to inspire, empower and create.”
The artists known as Lacey & Layla have created more than 100 murals of stylized realism around the world, from Iceland to Uganda. Their work, depicting everything from people to animals and the natural world, graces silos, arenas, restaurants , and more across Canada.
Jane is based in Vancouver, doing her masters at Emily Carr University of Art and Design, while Folkmann is based out of Edmonton, where the two met studying art at Grant MacEwan University.
Chi Pig, shot by Jerry Cordeiro, via the mural’s GoFundMe page.
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