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While some have taken to the streets to march in protest, some Phoenix muralists have taken to the walls.
Several murals have appeared in downtown Phoenix in response to the May 25deaths of George Floyd and Dion Johnson, two unarmed Black men who died in police custody in Minneapolis and Phoenix, respectively.
Phoenix artists have painted these public works of art to express the same message that’s been central to recent protests across the country: Black Lives Matter.
You’ll find one new mural on a block wall on Oak Street,another on the wall of Nami Vegan Sweets and a third that’s a large collaboration between six artists on a building set for demolition.
“Right now more than ever it is our responsibility to say something. This is our job, this is what we do as artists,” said Muta Santiago, a Phoenix-based artist who recently moved tothe Valleyfrom Miami, Florida.
“Being a person of color, I definitely felt like it was an obligation and my responsibility because this is what my community stands for and fights for every day.”
Santiago, who is Hispanic, had the vision to create a large mural that takes the audience to the funerals of Black people who’ve died from police brutality.
“I want people to look at this mural and see what’s going on around them, make them stop and think,” Santiago said.
This group mural will support Black Lives Matter
Santiago and local artists Nyla Lee, Ashley Macias, Giovannie ‘Just’ Dixon, Clyde and MDMN created a piece that shows the bright and the dark sides of being Black in America.
The mural is located on the wall of a vacant building at the corner of 3rd and McKinley streets. Each artist has their own section of the wall, flowers bringing the design together.
Santiago’s section portrays a Black boy in a hoodie holding a wilted red rose. The piece is a striking resemblance of Emmitt Till, Tamir Rice and Trayvon Martin, Black boys who all died before they turned 18 years old.
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Dixon’s contribution to the mural is a contrast, while the others are hues of browns, violets and blues, his is black and white. It’s a portrait of a Black woman with tears running down her face behind the words, “Black Lives Matter.”
“She has that tear, but she is resilient,” Dixon said.
The artists began painting this large mural on June 13. Santiago said the building on which it’s painted will be demolished soon. In an effort to keep the mural alive, the six artists will begin selling prints of the piece on their individual platforms on Wednesday. Proceeds from the prints will go to the official Black Lives Matter organization and Black Lives Matter Phoenix Metro and the Metro Phoenix Black People’s Justice Fund.
“This is how we protest,” Dixon said. “I’m so used to not seeing a lot of Black people on walls out here so it was huge for me to be a part of this.”
Details: On the northeast corner of Third and McKinley streets. instagram.com/mutavision.
Why this artist returned to Phoenix to honor Dion Johnson
Dixon is also the artist behind a mural of Dion Johnson on a wall of the vegan restaurant Nami north of downtown.
The piece depicts Johnson in grayscale and wearing a golden halo flanked between a blue and red rose. Johnson was killed in Phoenix, fatally shot by a Department of Public Safety trooper.
“This is the story of my life, me painting Dion is no different than me painting myself,” Dixon said.“That could be me at any given second, to this day it hasn’t changed, the weight hasn’t been lifted.”
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Dixon recently moved from Phoenix to Denver, but returned to paint these two murals.His work recently went viral after painting a Denver mural of Breonna Taylor surrounded by bright red roses. Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot in her Kentucky apartment by Louisville police in March.
“George Floyd’s death was when I finally realized I’ve been living in fear my whole life,” Dixon said.
Details: Nami, 2014 N. 7th St. Phoenix. instagram.com/justcreatedit.
What this George Floyd mural represents
Phoenix artist, Jeremie “Bacpac” Franco painted a mural of George Floyd on an Oak Street block wall.
The piece puts Floyd’s face on a $20 bill with the hashtag #the_price_of_black_lives above it.
Floyd was arrested by police because a convenience store clerk alleged that Floyd used a counterfeit $20 bill to make a purchase.
Floyd died after a Minneapolis police officer pinned him down with a knee on his neck while Floyd was handcuffed.
Bacpac said in an Instagram post that her piece implies Floyd’s life was not valued by the system.
Details: At the northwest corner of Oak and 15th streets. instagram.com/bacpac_live.
Elizabeth Montgomery is Arts and Culture Reporter for The Arizona Republic, azcentral.com. Reach her at [email protected] or 602-444-8764. Follow her on Twitter @emontnews. Support local journalism. Subscribe to azcentral.com today.
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