Painting Murals throughout history
has been a very powerful and revolutionary act done by and for poor
people who had something very special to say. Murals were used as
a rallying point to unit people in a common cause. Murals are not
trivial decorations or designs to be used by government officials
or powerful corporations. Murals question the status quo and uplift
the community.
We spend a long time on our Murals
and incorporate the kids of the community into our project. Graffiti
does disappear after we are in the neighborhood for a period of time.
But Graffiti is not the reason we will paint the Mural. Our main reasons
for painting a Mural is to educate kids, produce fine art and promote
social change. Murals act as very powerful forces in restoring the
spirit of a besieged neighborhood. The artistic goal of the program
is to paint fine art that uplifts the community without commercializing
the neighborhoods. The murals painted by OAAC are intended to be profound
statements about the people in a particular location. Graffiti, in
our view, is a racist pasttime by kids from suburban neighborhoods
who have found the city a perfect studio to prove their manhood. We
will talk about the Graffiti problem in another section.
