Ever since the words Black Lives Matter were painted in bright yellow on the street behind the White House on June 5, similar projects have appeared on the streets of cities across the country. They’ve been alternately welcomed and criticized, both from those within the Black Lives Matter movement and those outside.
So when officials in Manhattan set out to paint their own street mural in the Civic Center—an area adjacent to land that was a burial ground for people of African descent in the 17th and 18th centuries—they knew they couldn’t mess it up. Rather than rushing to get something on the ground, the New York City Public Design Commission, which has jurisdiction over all buildings and art proposed on city-owned property, slowed the process down and listened to the community. “We actually took the time to have the conversations with people that are in the actual Black Lives Matter movement,” says Justin Garett Moore, executive director of the Public Design Commission.
You can go see the completed Black Lives Matter Mural in Lower Manhattan at Foley Square, Centre Street between Reade and Worth Streets. ???? by Jarrell Robertson@BLMGreaterNY @galeabrewer@WXYStudio @NYC_DOT @NYCulture @TatsCru#BlackLivesMatter #mural #ourstreets #Manhattan #NYC pic.twitter.com/Hrj0zIGVLe
— Justin Garrett Moore (@jgmoore) July 4, 2020
The result is a 600-foot-long mural that not only says “Black Lives Matter” but is rooted in the principles that guide the movement.
Led by the office of Manhattan borough president Gale A. Brewer and under the guidance of Black Lives Matter of Greater New York, the project was coordinated by designers of color from WXY, an architecture and urban planning firm based in New York.
“At the end of the day, the mural is what people remember because that’s the tangible object that they will be a part of. But what we knew as collaborators was that the process leading to the mural was just as important,” says Hassen.
Originally conceived in early June and targeted for completion on Juneteenth, the mural’s timeline quickly conflicted with the politics of getting it painted. Hassen says an early issue arose when one of the companies selected to help was found to have workplace practices that ran counter to the movement’s anti-racism stance. It was decided that for the project to move forward, everyone involved would need to be aligned with the movement’s message. This led to “a lot of calls,” Moore says. The three-day street closure permit the city had granted was postponed, and there was a complete rethinking of how to run the project and who should be involved, adding weeks to the process.
It’s important that predominantly white fields such as architecture and urban planning participate in these kinds of projects, says WXY architectural designer Jhordan Channer, who was also involved in coordinating the mural project. And it’s particularly relevant for the type of work they do.
“Very often, people making decisions about what goes on the street or what building goes up, they’re not really aware of issues facing members of the community that they’re putting things on the streets in,” he says. “So as far as taking time with this process, it’s something that I definitely think needs to happen in the wider urbanism conversation.” This kind of process may represent a new way of engaging in the design of spaces within communities, Channer argues.
“I mean, it’s a mural, but it could be like a paradigm for urbanism as a whole.”