A new large-scale mural is being installed at St. Richard’s Episcopal Church (Website) on Lake Howell Road in Winter Park, and it’s inspired by Florida wildlife.
Titled The Annunciation in the Florida Wilds, the mural is being created/illuminated by iconographer Sayaka Kamakari (Instagram | Website) and gifted to the parish by Scott Wilson. It depicts the biblical Annunciation; the moment the Archangel Gabriel appears to the Virgin Mary, set within a Florida landscape that blends habitats like the Everglades, hardwood hammock, and coastal environments into the scene.
Kamakari’s approach blends Byzantine iconography and Western Latin religious painting with native Florida ecology, and she’s filled the background with dozens of Florida species, including Florida panther, scrub jay, gopher tortoise, manatee, and loggerhead sea turtles. It also features native plants like cabbage palm, live oak, passion flower, and blossoming orange trees. It’s meant to be a bit of a treasure hunt.
St. Richard’s is located at 5151 Lake Howell Road [GMap], and they’ll be hosting an unveiling of the mural on Sunday, April 12, at 10:30 a.m.
