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.
