Community Mural Action Program, 2011

Lead Artist: Katie Yamasaki

Assistant Artist: Tanya Albrightsen-Frable

Youth Artists: 12, 3rd and 4th graders: Giovanni, Nicholas, Marcus, Arturo, Jennifer, Arleny, Maleny, Melanie, America, Tanya, Adamaris, Evelyn

Location: PS 24, 427 38th Street Brooklyn

Community Partners: PS 24

Medium: Acrylic on Concrete

Dimensions: 6 panels approximately 34” x 96”

PROJECT DESCRIPTION

The mural was created in partnership with Groundswell and long-standing partner PS 24.   The mural’s theme was diversity, in keeping with the school’s diversity initiative for the 2010/11 school year. Students did multiple projects exploring various aspects of their own and their community’s diversity. They considered in collage, self-portrait, exquisite corpse, sign making, color mixing, color value, skin tone mixing and block party all of the things that create a diverse and healthy community.

The mural depicts the students of PS 24 in their many ways of coexisting in their peaceful community. The diversity is reflected in the students’ race, physical abilities, complexions, ages and personality traits. The kites, which serve as a visual thread linking all the images together, are trailed by bilingual kite tails written in Spanish, English, Bengali, Arabic, Polish and Chinese to represent the different languages spoken at PS 24. From left to right, the students represent: Dreamers, Helpers, Peacemakers, Creators, Learners, Friends and Global Community.

In the diversity panels that PS 24 has been hosting this year, students who are differently-abled physically, spoke about the feeling of being left out when it came to most things. Often when we speak of diversity, it is about race and religion. Many, many people from PS 24 (which is fully accessible) stopped to comment on how thrilled they were to see children who are differently-abled represented in the mural. Hopefully this will continue to change public perception about inclusion and ability.