“Tree of Knowledge” by Michael Webb is shown.
REUTERS
A girl with pigtails looks out of a window into a multicolored fantasy world. Yellow cones of light shine from her eyes. A few walls away is the “Tree of Knowledge“, a mural that depicts a tree with books, saws and other objects hidden among the leaves. And just around the corner, finely drawn origami birds flutter up the facade of a building, merging into a red-crowned crane.
Take a walk around Philadelphia and you’ll discover thousands of magnificent murals. There are over 4,500 paintings throughout Philly, the second most-populous city on the East Coast after New York. Although it hasn’t broken any world records, Philadelphia defines itself through its large-scale public art program, celebrating itself as the “mural capital.”
The murals tell the story of the city, and are a major social project.
Part of this story is the illegal graffiti that Philadelphia, like many other big cities, has to grapple with, says Jane Golden from the Mural Arts Philadelphia organization. Gangs often mark their territory with tags, which make the affected neighborhood seem untidy and unsafe. A kind of artist signature, the ambitious graffiti artists spray their pseudonym in aesthetically pleasing letters. Although illegal, tags often illustrate artistic potential.
Up to 100 new murals every year
Redirecting this creative energy and inspiring communities and artists to revitalize public spaces was the idea behind the Mural Arts campaign, which is still popular more than 40 years after it was launched as a measure against graffiti vandalism. Every year, more than 25,000 Philadelphians contribute to up to 100 new murals, with even criminally prosecuted graffiti artists getting involved.
Artists make designs and suggest locations, residents give the thumbs up or thumbs down, then everyone gets to work and paints together. It’s certainly unique and is one of the largest public art programs in the nation.
One of the better-known works, which is often a stop on special Mural Arts city tours, is called “Declaration”. The text of the United States Declaration of Independence is imposed over the face of a young woman of color. The document was ratified in Philadelphia in 1776 — just a few blocks away from the mural, in Independence Hall, with its white bell tower, which once housed the famous Liberty Bell. The red brick building is now a world heritage site.
Ellen Baxter, who gives tours of the murals, stops in front of the monumental work. You should take a closer look, she says to the tour participants. The artists redacted a number of passages in the historic declaration on freedom and equality; those that conflict with social reality. The artists hope this will encourage people to talk about social justice and a fair criminal justice system.
Art as a reintegration program
To get as many people as possible involved in the giant artworks — people from cultural centers, schools, retirement homes and even a local state prison — a special format has been devised. The paintings are often not created directly on the wall in question, but as large individual squares made of a type of parachute material at various locations. At the site of the mural, the squares are pieced together to form a complete work and then glued onto the wall.
What sounds like a purely practical process also has a social function: The Mural Arts organization employs released prisoners as part of a reintegration program. There are also art workshops and paid summer jobs for at-risk young people. On the outskirts of the city, which are more affected by crime, victims and inmates worked together to create two murals called “Healing Walls.” The murals capture the suffering of survivors of crime, depicting stone angels, winged hearts, thorns and prison bars.
In the city centre, street artist Shepard Fairey — known for his Barack Obama “Hope” campaign posters — created two murals on the topic of mass incarceration and rehabilitation. He deliberately portrayed two former local criminals as heroes. Everyone can achieve great things in society, including the 70 million Americans with a criminal record, Fairey said.
Mural artist Keith Haring
In 2009, the ex-graffiti artist Fairey was arrested for illegal graffiti, as was once pop art star Keith Haring. His trademark figures – dynamic and colorful – have been dancing on the wall of a rowhouse in Southwest Philly since 1987. “We the Youth” is Haring’s only intact mural project at an original location.
Taking a walk through the city, either on a guided tour or on your own, can sometimes feel like walking through a giant picture book—one that teaches you about Philadelphia, about its dreams, tragedies and triumphs.
City heroes such as the Philadelphia Phillies or the jazz saxophonist John Coltrane, who was significantly active in Philadelphia, are immortalized in murals. The “History of the Philadelphia Fire Department” mural is a reminder that Benjamin Franklin founded the first organized fire department here in 1736. There are fallen police officers and selfless nurses (“Evolving Faces of Nursing”).
But not everything is a statement on society or politics, a tribute to unsung heroes or clear in what it wants to say. The giant clothes peg in front of City Hall, by sculptor Claes Oldenburg, doesn’t necessarily have a deep message, and neither does artist collective Miss Rockaways Armada with “How to Turn Anything into Something Else”, the mural with the girl with pigtails looking out of the window.
The colorful street art in the concrete jungle of Philadelphia is a treat for the eyes. And sometimes it goes straight to the heart, like Stephen Powers’ project “A Love Letter for You” — a series of 50 murals on the roofs along the Market-Frankford elevated railway line is a public love letter from a man to a girl, and from the artist to Philly.
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