Sample Interactive Image for Street Art Piece

Background

The city of Philadelphia has rich traditions of both activism and public art. With the founding of Mural Arts Philadelphia in 1984, this city has slowly become one of the most vibrant centers for public art works in the world; it has commissioned over 4,000 works of community-based public artworks around the city since its founding. Though Mural Arts started as an anti-graffiti effort (appropriately named the Anti-Graffiti Network until 2016), it has since transformed into a way for local artists to engage in (the sometimes radical) discourse around issues within Philadelphia and beyond. As murals and other public artworks have become a hallmark of the city, other city-sponsored offices and smaller arts organizations also began sponsoring these projects.

In response to the protests which took place last summer following the police murder of George Floyd, in addition to countless other Black people, a few of these public arts programs chose to commission Black artists to paint murals to commemorate this moment in history. I became interested in researching and analyzing murals related to the Black Lives Matter Movement because I was curious as to how Black publics were choosing to represent these events, and how it might differ from more mainstream (white) narratives. On a more personal level, as a recent transplant, I also saw this endeavor as an opportunity to get to know the city of Philadelphia in a different and interesting way. More than anything, however, I wanted to understand how this mode of communication allowed Black artists to tell these stories differently.

Whereas news media claims a certain objectivity, many of the murals throughout Philadelphia don’t feign neutrality; visual arts afford a certain emotional connection to the subjects of these works that artists fully take advantage of. Additionally, while news centers white suburbanites as its audience (with leanings toward one side of the political spectrum or another), murals meant to be viewed by all. They sometime take into consideration the people who live and work in the area where it’s displayed, but it centers the perspectives of the artist more than it does cater to a specific audience. There was a clear standpoint in the art I was finding, a set of experiences being represented, and frequently a political message.

About these pieces

The pieces analyzed here are four of many that could be found around the city of Philadelphia during the late summer and Fall of 2020. All created by Black artists, these murals center the humanity of Black people in a variety of ways, representing our collective experience of the events of last summer. Nile Livingston’s Entanglement, for example, simply and elegantly records the interconnected cultural, political, and economic realities of Black Americans living through both the COVID-19 pandemic and an uprising. Her work squarely and unapologetically speaks to Black publics without putting our experiences in relation to whiteness, using imagery and language that are specifically legible to Black Americans based on our shared cultural experiences.

Though most of these pieces were temporary, they also reminded us in a variety of ways that the fight against police brutality is a movement, not just a moment. While for many, the memory of last summer has begun to fade, these pieces spoke to the continual struggle for equity which remains ongoing. I see Gerald A. Brown, Roberto Lugo, and Isaac Scott’s Stay Golden mural as the most prominent example of this. The words “Stay Golden” in front of a cityscape are a notice to members of the community to stay the course and fight state violence against Black lives, come what may.

In much the same way, Vote 2 Breathe also speaks to the stakes of this time period where Black lives were so blatantly under attack. Although racist police violence remains an issue, there was an urgency around the 2020 presidential election, as many racists had become emboldened by former President Trump’s white supremacist rhetoric. Though this piece appears to be light and fun with its bright colors and use of the peace sign, the words “Vote for those who can’t breathe anymore” are a harrowing call for greater civic engagement to make the types of violence that have cost so many Black people their lives less acceptable. While it is debatable as to whether solutions to the issue of police brutality can be brought about via politics, electing a new and less blatantly racist president felt like a start at that point in time.

What struck me most about these pieces, however, were the prevailing themes of hope and unity. Russell Craig’s Crown mural, for example, utilized imagery of protestors in front of a blue-sky background, many of whom are holding up Black power fists. This symbol of solidarity is also silhouetted in red, black, and green in reference to the pan-African flag created by Marcus Garvey. Similar to the use of the fist in Stay Golden, this mural communicates a sense of unity amongst Black people that feels especially salient during this time.

While I’ve taken broad strokes as to what these pieces say about the events of last summer, you can find a more in-depth, interactive analysis of these murals below. My hope is that these more granular observations begin to put into words what these artists have so beautifully expressed in their murals, as I believe their work should be as much a part of the public discourse around the Black Lives Matter movement as any mainstream media outlet. As this project continues to grow, I hope to gain further insight into how Black publics continue to choose to memorialize these events.