Philadelphia's Got Art!

"Declaration" by Titus Kaphar
and Reginald Dwayne Betts

With more than 4,000 murals across the city, Philadelphia is the mural capital of the world.  No, I did not add an extra zero to that number by mistake. This is a city that takes its public art seriously. And here's the cool thing -- most of the art was financed by Mural Arts Philadelphia, a public-private partnership founded in 1986. Its budget runs between $11MM and $15MM per year, with public funding making up approximately a third of that amount. Wow. Not surprisingly, taking a mural tour was at the top of my list of things to do during my recent visit. I can check learning about 12 of the 4,000 murals off my list -- lol. 

One of the things that struck me about many of the murals is how large they are. As the saying goes, size matters. "Declaration" by artist Titus Kaphar and poet Reginald Dwayne Betts, for instance, stands eight stories tall. It makes the message of this work all the more powerful. 

The mural includes a portion of the Declaration of Independence, but it's heavily redacted. The redaction is, of course, what the mural is all about. You probably recall from your civics classes that the Declaration of Independence stated that "all men are created equal." Problem number one with this language is that "men" was interpreted to mean only men, and women didn't gain the right to vote until well more than a century later. Problem number two, and the point of the mural, is the contradiction between this language and the scope of the Constitution, enacted 20 years later, which stated that each enslaved African-American would be counted as three-fifths of a person when determining a state's representation in Congress. Not exactly equality. 

And here's something else cool about this mural. It was developed by Kaphar and Betts in connection with a Mural Arts' Reimagining Reentry Fellowship. Many of the people who worked on the mural were from the Mural Arts Guild Program, a reentry program for men and women recently out of prison. "Declaration" is a huge "wow" in every respect. 

"Untitled" by Amy Sherald (2019)

Then there was a mural designed by Amy Sherald, the artist best known for painting Michelle Obama's official portrait. The image is that of Najee S., a participant in the Murals Arts education program. The intention is for viewers to see Najee not as an individual but as a representation of a Black body taking up public space (six stories of public space to be exact). Who is deserving of being the subject of a work of art and how seeing a portrait such as this impacts viewers are two of the basic questions Sherald's work asks. 

It of course makes sense that Najee spent time with Sherald in connection with the creation of the mural. But Najee wasn't the only Mural Arts education participant to meet the internationally known artist. A larger contingent visited Sherald's studio where they had the chance to talk with the artist and explore her studio. Sherald apparently has costumes on hand to dress her subjects, so they also got to play dress up. What an opportunity!  As a side note, our tour guide shared that Sherald's involvement in the creation of the mural was limited to creating the design. She did apparently paint the buttons on the coat, but she wasn't out there on a scaffolding for days on end with a paintbrush in hand. Still, everyone on the tour was excited to see this work. And if you're interested in seeing more murals honoring women, click here. 

"ContraFuerte" by Migaul Antonio Horn (2021)

In addition to its Mural Arts program, Philadelphia enacted its Percent for Art programs in 1959. The legislation requires an amount equal to at least one percent of the cost of construction projects developed on City land or funded by the City be spent for site-specific public art. The programs were established during Mayor Richardson Dilworth's tenure as part of his "modern golden age" vision of improving the city's infrastructure and public spaces. 

Miguel Antonio Horn's "ContraFuerte" is one of the 600+ works around the city created in connection with these programs. Most people interpret the figures in the work as working together to hold the ramp into a city parking garage in place. It clearly takes a lot of effort, as any collaborative endeavor does.

Horn is a bit more oblique about his intention. "It's a group struggle," he said in this interview, "But there are also individuals within that...The way people relate to that connects with their own internal struggles and experiences." I found the sculpture a bit creepy, but we are all going to have different reactions. 

What a treat it was to be in a city that has made public art such an integral part of its design. If you visit, take the time to look up and appreciate what's been created. For more on the Mural Arts program, click here. And for more on the Percent for Art program, click here.