A Detroit mural festival aimed at boosting the opportunities of Black and other artists of color has turned into a gathering of 25 globally renowned and emerging muralists.
The artists have been creating large-scale public murals throughout Detroit’s North End neighborhood and the city of Highland Park since Sept. 7 as part of the BLKOUT Walls Festival. On Saturday, many of the artists will participate in a community block party in the parking lot of the Chroma building, 2937 E. Grand Blvd.
The free event takes place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and features music, food and local vendors. There also will be a way to check out all the murals virtually using a map to the murals being created.
Highland Park murals are on and near Woodward Avenue in a four block area, between Richton and Highland streets.
The festival debuted in 2021 and was co-founded by Syndey G. James, a native Detroiter and professional artist. James lives in the Conant Gardens neighborhood where she grew up. “That’s the first neighborhood in Detroit where Black people were allowed to own homes.” she said. “I bought a house four blocks away from my momma. I still got cousins, aunts, all up and down” the area.
That pride of Detroit along with the dearth of Black artists at other mural festivals were among the reasons James started the BLKOUT Walls Festival, along with Thomas “Detour303″ Evans of Denver and Max Sansing of Chicago.
“We founded the festival because of the absence of Blackness in majority of, if not all, mural festivals,” James said. “I’ve definitely been the only Black woman present,” at festivals, she said. “I can’t even say it was a lack of diversity. It was the absence of Blackness.”
James is creator of several well-known Detroit murals, including “Girl with the D Earring,” on an outer wall of the Chroma building, the site of Saturday’s celebration. The mural is an 8,000-square-foot revision of Dutch artist Johannes Vermeer’s painting, “Girl with a Pearl Earring.” James’ version includes an epic-size image of real-life Detroiter Halima Cassells along with a chock full of Detroit references to former and existing businesses in the North End and Paradise Valley.
There is plenty of Detroit representation among the artists, but other participating artists hail from Ghana, Jamaica and Mexico. Artists include Tylonn J. Sawyer, Mohammed Awudu, Bird Cap (Michael Roy), Bakpak Durden, Ijania Cortez, Sheefy Mcfly, Habacuc Samuel Bessiake, Toonky Berry, Miah the Creator, Brittany Williams and Taj Francis.
This year’s festival will create up to 30 murals, depending on whether “a drop-in artist” decides to join and produce a mural, James said.
For the festival, James is producing a mural on the outside wall of the Turkey Grill, 8290 Woodward Ave. The casual eatery is not one of the new trendy spots in the area but a longtime North End staple, founded by George Lyles in 1996. James’ mural includes a menu from the restaurant along with an image of her partner, photographer Lamar Landers.
“Honestly, the primary goal of this festival isn’t even the murals. It’s really the artists’ fellowship and the community fellowship,” she said. “We are really creating like a family reunion-type environment and it feels amazing.”
laguilar@detroitnews.com
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