“The mural to me is an expression of the times in which one lives...”
Murals are pictorial stories that can be read and reread to understand the full message the artist is trying to convey, it is a form of activism that is silent but carries a loud voice to hi light the inequities of our fragile human existence. With out these mural stories our cultural thread is severed and the feelings and emotions of these creations are not transmitted in its full form. It is one thing to read about history but to see it thru eyes of an individual who has passion, history is brought to life with its full passion and fury. The stories I tell in my murals are really a woven tapestry of historical facts, outside interpretations, and my own artistic license to the work. My murals therefore only have credibility to the communities they represent if I’ve spent considerable and intentional time researching and learning about the narratives and people the mural seeks to represent. This can include reading online journals, viewing documentaries, attending community lectures, and interviewing and talking to community members about what the mural’s subject matter means to them. All of the research I conduct forms the foundation of my murals. In all truth, I can not truly or even adequately visualize these murals without putting in the time and energy to research them, and without space to soak in the energy and history of my work, my work loses all credibility in the eyes of the communities who commission them. Painting a mural is more than sketching and scaling a piece of visual art. For me, it means becoming engrossed in the narratives it seeks to share and channeling the emotions of the community and moment in history the mural represents. When you do this right and with intention, the work begins to speak through your soul. You can translate the anger of injustice into the strokes of your brush and portray the color of liberation movements on a wall. You become a part of the mural.
