Chicago artists work to preserve Black Lives Matter art
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
A mural at the Sounding Boards Garden in North Lawndale. Photo: Carrie Shepherd/Axios
Black Lives Matter murals and public art were all over Chicago after George Floyd's murder in 2020, but five years later, it can be difficult to find some of those works.
Why it matters: The protests against police brutality were an inflection point in a city with a complicated history of policing. Artists expressing their feelings about that moment and the larger social justice movement was natural in a city known for its public art.
Flashback: As protests wove through Chicago neighborhoods in the summer of 2020, Paint the City founders Missy Perkins and Barrett Keithley connected artists with businesses who wanted to show their support for Black Lives Matter.
- "It was just a thing where we just couldn't sit back and kind of watch this happen and not do something. We were obviously both feeling like, 'What kind of action can we take?'" Perkins tells Axios. "We know so many artists from all over the place that could go out and create these inspiring murals as a way to help people or as a way to engage in a conversation."
- Perkins says the group created hundreds of artistic boards across the city.
Yes, but: All of those boards are not currently on display to the public.
- Many were shown in the 2021 exhibition "Resilient Voices," at the DuSable Museum in Washington Park, but Perkins says they're now in storage in need of restoration and a permanent home.
- Paint the City is exploring funding avenues to make that happen.
State of play: Other groups, including the Sounding Boards Garden initiative, created displays that are still open to the public.
- In a lot behind Harmony Community Church in North Lawndale sits an outdoor gallery of colorful painted boards, including a portrait of Floyd, a large fist with the phrase "Power to the People," and a black cherub wearing boxing gloves and floating in space.
Zoom out: George Floyd Square in Minneapolis, where police officer Derek Chauvin killed Floyd, is ensnared in a development battle about what to do with the streets around the memorial created after Floyd's death.
- Washington, D.C., has dismantled its Black Lives Matter Plaza for what Mayor Muriel Bowser said will instead become an area celebrating America's 250th birthday, which is in 2026.
Context: Following the 2020 protests, activists also called for the dismantling of public art and monuments across the country, saying they reinforced white supremacy.
- Most notable in Chicago was the removal of two Christopher Columbus statues, one of which the city plans to loan to the Joint Civic Committee of Italian Americans.
- The city created the Chicago Monuments Project to determine what to do with the other controversial public art.
Reality check: The group identified 41 objects that "privilege whiteness, social elites and the powerful above all other people" and recommended that several be placed in storage, but none have been, CBS reported this month.
What's next: A Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events spokesperson told Axios they have no plans for an official George Floyd monument.