On the street, it’s known as the “crack wall,” a popular meeting spot for drug dealers and their customers, but a pair of homeless Calgary artists are hoping public art will give new meaning to an underpass in the city’s East Village.

Over the next three weeks, the men — along with two local artists and any community member who wants to join — will be painting a mural under the 5th Avenue flyover. The project, a collaboration between the Calgary Drop-In and Rehab Centre, the city and the Calgary Municipal Land Corporation, was spearheaded by Bill (who declined to give his last name), 53, a lifelong Albertan who has been transient for the past 15 years.

“I feel like a person again. I can see a future,” he said at the mural’s launch Wednesday morning.

Despite the drab weather, the mood at the event was upbeat with about 20 people painting, taking photos and playing guitar.

Bill’s life has been marked by hardship.

For years, he worked menial jobs, as a janitor, labourer and security guard. Eventually, he found himself unable to afford housing and was living in the woods along the Elbow River. On New Year’s 2012, he decided he wanted his life to have a purpose. He recalled that as a child, he’d always loved drawing.

“I felt I needed to develop a skill,” said Bill. “At first I sat in the library and practised and drew every day for eight months.”

Eventually, he made his way to the drop-in centre and joined the Possibilities Project, an art program that offers opportunities for visual art, music, theatre and dance. After working with local artist Daniel Kirk on another underpass, he was inspired to do something similar at the 5th Avenue flyover. Once completed, the installation, called This is Our City: Helping Hands, will depict staircases symbolizing different pathways in life as well as hands joining together, said Bill.

“Sometimes you’re up, sometimes you’re down, sometimes you don’t seem to be going anywhere, but that’s not the end of the world,” he said. “There are people and organizations that are willing to help when you find yourself down.”

Fellow artist Ryan Delve, 42, a recovering crack cocaine addict, said joining the Possibilities Project has helped him stay clean.

“I wanted to fix my life up instead of just being a functioning addict,” said the former tattoo artist and construction worker. In the past two years, he’s gone from pencil drawings to working with canvas and sculpture.

“It’s so positive. This is the start of my new career,” he said.

Both men are currently living at the drop-in centre and will be paid for their work on the mural.

Jordan Hamilton, a drop-in centre spokesman, said being creative can be therapeutic for people in marginalized communities.

“It puts smiles on faces. Some people come to us not having smiled in a month,” he said.

The project, he added, has prompted the city to accept applications from other members of the public interested in painting public spaces.

“We hope this mural is the first of hundreds spread across the city.”