Highly Endangered Murals

(to see murals that have been lost, click here)

When Rescue Public Murals began, the project co-chairs and advisors identified ten significant, outdoor murals that were at risk. Unfortunately, within just these examples of murals that Rescue Public Murals endeavored to save, three have already been destroyed. Local Advisory Committees in cities across the country are nominating murals such as these for assessments. To recommend a mural to the project, click here.

Innocence, Norma Montoya, Los Angeles, 1975, 17’ x 31’, one of the 52 murals of Estrada Courts. (Photo by Moira Egan)	A cluster of about 50 murals is located at the Estrada Courts housing project on Olympic and Lorena in East Los Angeles. Chicano artists from Los Angeles, San Diego, and Northern California painted these murals during the height of the Chicano civil rights and art movements. The Estrada Courts buildings have been recently rehabilitated and the time is right to refurbish the artistic heart of the community as well. Six murals were assessed by Rescue Public Murals in May and June 2007. Read more....
SIDA en Colores, Carlos Callejo, El Paso, 1988, 16’ x 75’.	In this mural, artist Carlos Callejo, whose major work includes interior murals in the new El Paso courthouse, illustrates a terrible “AIDS tornado” sweeping victims away from their city. The Texas sun, graffiti, and the structural instability of the wall are all having a negative impact on the mural. It was assessed by Rescue Public Murals in October 2007 by the artist and conservator Steven Prins of Steven Prins & Company, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and they are formulating a plan for its restoration. Read more....
Seminole Peace Mural, David Fichter, Atlanta, 1984. 15’ x 85’ (est.)	This important mural in Atlanta represents a timely call for peace, combining African American history, anti-nuclear activism, and neighborhood unity. It is an important example by a leading national muralist that has done several projects in Atlanta. The mural’s cracking, chipping, and flaking is due partly to poor drainage on the building, but it has also been severely damaged by graffiti, which obliterates its peaceful intent.
Knowledge Is Power, Stay In School. Dana Chandler, Boston, 1971. 10’ x 30’ (est.)	This mural was painted in the early years of the community mural movement. It grew out of concern for local black youth and lures of the mythical wealthy drug dealer and the flashy entertainer. The elegant simplicity of Chandler’s design and symbolic elements such as the use of the pan-African colors of black, green, and red, still resonate with its Roxbury neighborhood, but it is threatened by aging materials and local redevelopment plans.
Against Domestic Colonialism. Arnold Belkin, New York City, 1972. 60’ x 70’(est.)	This is the only surviving mural in the United States by Mexican master Arnold Belkin, one of the most important 20^th century muralists. It illustrates the struggle between communities and urban renewal programs, one of the most common mural themes for the first phase of the community mural movement (1965-73). Since its painting in 1972, the wall has suffered serious drainage and surface flaking problems, which continue unabated today.
All of Mankind, William Walker, Chicago, 1973.	All of Mankind is one of the few remaining outdoor murals of William Walker, a primary artist behind the Wall of Respect (1967) the mural that began the community mural movement. It covers the interior and exterior of the Strangers Home Missionary Baptist Church near the former Cabrini-Green housing project. In the past thirty years, the colors have faded and the surface has been abraded; the building itself is also threatened by redevelopment.

To see lost murals, click here. To recommend a mural, click here.