The humpback whale that enchanted Montrealers in the Old Port at the beginning of June may not be around any longer but a mural honouring its memory is.

Montreal artist and graphic designer Omar Bernal Benítez spent eight days creating the whale mural on the corner of Avenue du Mont-Royal and Rue Saint-André in The Plateau.

Benítez tells Daily Hive that his “O SEA” mural was created to honour the vitality of the humpback whale that captured the hearts of so many Montrealers at a time when they needed it most.

The mural is over 50 feet long as was created using Latex enamel paint.

“As an artist, being well aware of today’s problems, being aware of current thinking and technology is very important and my work plays a lot with that,” says Benítez. “There is a fine line between being an opportunistic news story and really worrying about what is going on. I think that both journalism and art play a very important role in making the population reflect on certain social problems. I think it is important that certain news not be forgotten. Or point them out so that people continue to reflect on them.”

The project was completed with the help and support of Castor et Pollux and MU MTL, two non-profit art organizations in the city.

To tide you over before you check out the mural for yourself here are some photos from Benítez’s Instagram page of his whale of a creation.