‘A Swim Through Time’: New mural adorns Dino Lab building in James Bay

Local artist Austin Knill has completed a new mural in James Bay that wraps around the side of the Dino Lab building. 

The science-based mural, titled “A Swim Through Time,” features numerous prehistoric creatures that once called this region home. 

According to Knill, the intent behind his design was to celebrate the rich history of oceanic life, from the dawn of the first self-replicating cells over 3.5 billion years ago to the rich biodiversity of the region’s waters today. 

“I believe that better understanding the billions of years of evolution through our seas and the many ways in which marine life has responded to various cataclysmic extinction events can help us better appreciate the delicate balance our seas are in today,” said Knill. 

Knill, who also works at Dino Lab, explained that the seas were where life on Earth began, eventually exploding with diversity. 

“A Swim Through Life” shows billions of years worth of evolution, from the first soft-bodied creatures of the Precambrian era to the Cambrian era’s trilobites and onwards.

The first portion of the mural takes onlookers through life on earth’s earliest stages and displays numerous aquatic dinosaurs and reptiles. 

His mural even includes BC’s provincial fossil—the long-necked elasmosaurus. 

“A huge swimming predator whose fossils were discovered right here on Vancouver Island in the Comox Valley along with many other prehistoric sea monsters from the age of the dinosaurs,” said Knill. 

“In my design, this bizarre but beautiful creature is depicted close to actual size so passers can stand next to it and take in the tremendous length of the marine reptiles that used to swim where they are standing.”

The next portion of the mural depicts the evolution of whales, some of which are still around today. 

“First is the modest, semi-aquatic ambelocetus: an ungulate who scuttled along the coasts and waterways on four legs much like our familiar otters,” explained Knill. 

“Then, millions of years later came its much larger and more marine-adapted descendants like durodon, who would look far more like our modern whales but still bear the stamp of their terrestrial ancestors in the form of vestigial hind limbs.” 

The tail end of the mural displays these early whale ancestors’ descendants, the iconic orca whale.

He said that at Dino Lab, people can access and learn about fossils from all periods displayed in his mural and that these fossil records are significant when it comes to understanding what the modern day Pacific Northwest once looked like. 

“Everything we know about the amazing creatures that once swam in our waters starts with examining fossils just like these, and if my mural can help encourage curious minds—young and old—to start learning about the past, I hope the knowledge gleaned can help our present and future,” said Knill. 

“After all, we too can trace our ancestry back to the prehistoric seas.”

Knill’s mural was commissioned by Dino Lab, a company and attraction that has committed to science education in the region. 

the artist noted that he had help from other local artists in completing this mural, including Leslie Fetsch and Sarah-Jane Russell who each brought their own unique talents to the finished piece.

Learn more about some of the specific creatures in Knill’s mural online here.