“I myself was a witness to the carnage that happened in the Lapu-Lapu Day tragedy; some of us have friends who have been directly affected by the tragedy,” said artist Diane Zapata with Migrante B.C.

“We want to heal our community through art.” 

Her piece depicts a family saying goodbye at the airport as one embarks for work in another country. 

“It’s one of the most heartbreaking experiences as a migrant worker I think, when you have to say goodbye to your family to find better fortune in a foreign country,” Zapata told CTV News.

“I wanted to show that anywhere we’re very vulnerable still in a new country so that’s why I wanted to represent that it’s a sacrifice to be a migrant worker.”

Diane Zapata, vice-chair of Migrante B.C., said she witnessed the aftermath of the Lapu-Lapu Day crash and had initially hesitated to attend today's event.

"But because of collective grieving and recovery, I needed to come here for myself, for my community to be present and move forward," she told CBC News.

Zapata helped run a therapeutic art workshop at the festival, which invited attendees to contribute to a piece of art centred on the Sarimanok, a mythical bird, which she says, symbolizes peace and prosperity.  

"What we're doing here is reclaiming our public space," she said. "We are offering this public art installation to co-create with everyone and to, you know, rebuild and heal from what happened to our community."