Cruel Arts: The City Of Mural Arts

According to the dictionary the word mural means a painting or other work of art that is directly executed on to a wall. The mural started out as what is known as graffiti, which comes from the Latin word graffio, meaning scratching or scribbling. Murals are in existence in almost every city across the world. More specifically, I want to zero in on cities such as Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Belfast and Derry Ireland. An individual may believe that murals are there to beautify the city, however to many others a mural can symbolize something as simple as community. The book states, “from time immemorial, people have left their mark on both natural and manmade edifices, whether they are cave or building walls or floors, trees, or monuments”
In fact, one of the nations largest public arts program is located right in Philadelphia. This program is known as Mural Arts Philadelphia, where for 30 years artists and communities have been united through mural making to create art that is able to transform public spaces as well as individual lives. According to their background, “each year, 12,000 residents and visitors tour Mural Arts’ outdoor art gallery, which has become part of the city’s civic landscape and a source of pride and inspiration, earning Philadelphia international recognition as the “City of Murals”(Mural arts). Mural Arts Philadelphia has been around since 1984, at which time it was established as part of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network. Not only does it help in empowering communities, but also helps “graffiti writers” direct their energies into creating public art projects, as well as being a powerful tool for generating dialogue, helping build relationships, and also sparking economic
According to the book, the contemporary murals of Los Angeles were strongly influenced by Mexico’s revolutionary governmental mural arts program. In addition, another influence of LA’s mural arts was Cesar Chavez and the coxial ferment of the late 1960s and early 1970s. One of LA’s true cultural landmarks is known as the Great Wall of Los Angeles. In addition to being a local landmark it is also one of the country’s most respected and largest monuments to inter-racial harmony. Located in San Fernando Valley’s Tujunga Wash, this mural stands at more than thirteen feet high and is almost half a mile in length, and is a depiction of the multiethnic history of Los Angeles. This wall alone brought together 400 underprivileged teens, who, with the help of the residents, activists, and academics, were able to execute such an explicit design. In total, the project took almost seven summers to be