Currently, I am staying in a neighborhood called Fishtown in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The neighborhood looks a lot like Williamsburg, Brooklyn and is located ten minutes from Center City (downtown). Fishtown is becoming widely accepted as an art, music and cultural center. Several years ago it was considered a poor neighborhood. Crime, drugs, and poverty were prevalent. Throughout the past few years, the neighborhood has experienced an art and music renaissance. As a result, new businesses have been opening their doors, property value has spiked, art and music have become more prevalent than crime.
When someone is walking through Fishtown, it is impossible not to notice the unbelievable amount of Murals and Graffiti. Some of the Murals have been painted by nationally acclaimed artists like Kurt Vile and Shepard Fairey. Through independent research, I have discovered that Philadelphia has more Murals than any other city in the United States.
The Philadelphia Mural Arts Program’s website describes the history of Mural art in Philadelphia under their “overview” page.
“Mural Arts was first established in 1984 as part of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network’s effort to eradicate the city’s graffiti crisis. Artist Jane Golden was hired to reach out to graffiti writers and redirect their energies to constructive public art projects. In addition to addressing the problem of graffiti, Mural Arts’ collective mural-making processes proved to be a powerful tool for generating dialogue, building relationships, empowering communities, and sparking economic revitalization. In 1996, the Anti-Graffiti Network was reorganized and the Mural Arts Program became its own entity. Soon after, the nonprofit Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates was established to raise additional funds for the program, making Mural Arts a unique public/private partnership.
The organization targets every neighborhood in Philadelphia, each year enrolling 2,000 individuals in its three programmatic initiatives and directly engaging an additional 8,000 in its projects. The programmatic initiatives include Art Education for youth; Restorative Justice for inmates, those re-entering society, and victims of violence; and Porch Light for those struggling with mental illness, trauma, and addiction. Each of these initiatives generates projects with themes and processes relevant to their target constituencies. Mural Arts also has a Community Murals department, which focuses on creating projects in collaboration with community groups and organizations; and a Special Projects department that produces large-scale artworks meant to push the boundaries of public art.”
Here are a few of the murals I have seen in Fishtown so far.
