Inclusion painting unveiled at Riverview Middle School becomes part of Black Gold's pride recognition

A painting celebrating inclusion and self-love is now on display at Riverview Middle School, after its unveiling this month. It is also featured on the front of a postcard that Black Gold designed and shared with schools across the division for pride month.

The painting was created by teacher and artist, Charla Ceulemans, in honour of Emily Hugh, a previous student of the school who passed away last year.

After her time as a Riverview Middle School student, Hugh ended up returning to the school as an Educational Assistant and basketball coach.

“She was just the most accepting, welcoming, genuine human,” Ceulemans says, “she was the sort of person who would seek out the ones who needed a little extra love, and always made others feel extra special or extra good about themselves. She was an advocate for all people and acceptance of all.”

Following Hugh’s passing, Ceulemans was inspired to create the pride mural she had been thinking about making to replace a previous display. The painting is inspired by the tree of life, the whole piece decorated with pride colours and interspersed with purple and a butterfly alongside the message: “Be your beautiful self,” honouring Hugh. 

Ceulemans hopes that anyone who walks into the school, whether they are a student, staff member, or member of the community, will see the message in the piece and know that they are welcome.

“This is another really beautiful, welcoming way to say, ‘be exactly who you are, because we are going to accept you. We’re going to love you. We want you here exactly as you are,’” Ceulemans says.

She plans on distributing prints of the painting to any schools who are interested in having a larger copy to hang up, to further share the message of inclusion and value that was shared through pride postcards this month.

Charla Ceulemans with Emily Hugh, taken previously, and shared with permission of the Hugh family.