How Art Can Heal Communities

Public art has the power to heal, as we have seen through the colorful mural painted on the side of Cup Foods in Minneapolis that honors the life of George Floyd. We hear from one of the mural's artists, Greta McLain, about how she uses art as a tool for change and why she made the piece of art that has inspired unprecedented dialogue and others to express their voice through art around the world. 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Welcome to this episode of Here's Something Good, a production
of the Seneca Women Podcast Network and I Heart Radio.
Each day we aspire to bring you the good news,
the silver lining, the glass half full, because there is
good happening in the world everywhere, every day. We just
need to look for and share it. Here's something Good

(00:27):
for Today. Sometimes the most persuasive conversations take place without
a word being spoken, and the most powerful emotions are
expressed with a paintbrush. That's why art has long been
a catalyst for change, a way to heal and bring
people together. And that's what's happening right now in Minneapolis,
where a huge mural of George Floyd has inspired unprecedented dialogue.

(00:49):
The mural has become a place for residents to leave flowers,
photos and notes, a site of peace and reflection where
they can remember the life that was taken twelve days
ago and can sitter how each of us can make
a difference for the future. You've likely seen the mural.
It's been shared hundreds of thousands of times online and
has inspired George Floyd murals in Barcelona, Berlin, Dublin and Syria. Now. Historically,

(01:14):
public art and murals have always been a powerful medium
of social expression, community engagement, and outreach, and while protests
continue across the world, art like the George Floyd mural
on the side of Cup Foods on East thirty eight
Street and Chicago Avenue has the ability to bring communities together.
We wanted to learn more about this amazing work of
art and how public art can be a powerful tool

(01:36):
for healing and for redesigning communities. We spoke with Greta McLean,
one of the three artists behind this mural, about her
experience creating the mural in her hometown of Minneapolis. Here's
what Greta had to say. We decided to honor George
Floyd with a mural because it's felt like and we'll
a I think we've all been dest for an action
like what can we do? What is a way for

(01:58):
us to give voice and give color and give some
sort of healing, to to begin the healing right for
for what our community has experienced and what we really
are hearing that our communities of color have been experiencing
for generation with police brutality and just demibracism. And there
are other people whose action is to be on the
street and be protesting with other people who their action

(02:19):
is to do like you do and documents, take the photos,
have a conversation. My tool for change is painting. For
this piece, I collaborated with Vina Goldman and collect When
we alloga very as in Chicago, we've noticed like, Okay,
there's something really tragic. Has this happened? Here? Is sparking
a huge conversation, important conversation in our city. There's so

(02:40):
much grief, there's so much anger. How do we mark
what happened to George Floyd but in a way that
celebrates the beauty of who he is and doesn't just
focus on the last minute of his life. So it
was my total honor to get to go there and
just start the painting. So in the space of all
of like the lighting and the in and the violence

(03:01):
and so many immigrant owned and independently owned businesses being
totally destroyed, that has been the main headlines in the news.
And I feel like this mural has this amazing ability
to kind of root us back in what we are
doing and why we are here. And we are here
because black lives matters. We're here because justice for George Floyd.

(03:21):
We are here because we need system change, and I've
been really excited and honored to be part of this
mural as a way of remembering and bringing the community
focus back to what's really going on and what's really important.
And now this whole intersection has really transformed into a mandala,
so many flowers, a solemn and beautiful place of mourning
and grieving and remembering. I'm a career muralist. This is

(03:45):
my love. All I want to do is take of
all the time and work with the community to claim
these these spaces. And it feels like how the public
art is such a powerful tool to reclaim that space
and open it up so that people can really share
their stories and say, hey, this is how I want
you to see me, This is how I want you
to see my neighborhood. I am retaking dominion over the

(04:07):
public opinion by painting my wall. My artwork is all
about being a tool for change, and so in order
to really feel like I'm doing my best work and
being part of the change that I want to see
in the world, it's like I need to show up
in every action in my life with this intention, and
that includes using my skill set in order to further

(04:29):
this conversation and to help this cause. So I'm just
seeing so many other people activated in that same way,
and I hope that this work can can really motivate
and inspire other artists to do the same. Art is
an amazing tool, a universal language that can really bring
people together. We are so grateful to be able to
hear firsthand about the power of community art and the

(04:51):
work of Greta and her collaborators. So here's something hopeful
for today. Art provides us with an opportunity to read
this line and heal our communities, and we are thrilled
to hear that this mural has sparked an outpouring of
healing and artistic expression, and perhaps it can provide each
of us with the opportunity to find our own tool

(05:12):
to express and process what's happening in the world around us.
You can learn more about Gretta's work and Good Space
Murals at Good Space Murals dot com. Thank you for listening,

(05:34):
and please share Today's something Good with others in your life.
This is Kim Azzarelli, co author of Fast Forward and
co founder of Seneca Women. To learn more about Seneca Women,
go to Seneca Women dot com or download the Seneca
Women app free in the app Store. Here's Something Good
is a production of the Seneca Women podcast network and
I heart Radio Have a Great Day. For more podcasts

(06:01):
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