LOTS of murals.
I wish I’d taken time to photograph more of them.
I really like the two I captured, though.
Click on the images for a bigger version so you can see the detail.
I figured there had to be a story behind them. I mean, they were everywhere. It was awesome.
I said there were lots of them, right? There are about 3,000 murals scattered throughout the city.
Really.
And it’s all thanks to the city’s Mural Arts Program.
The Mural Arts Program began in 1984 as a component of the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network, an effort spearheaded by then Mayor Wilson Goode to eradicate the graffiti crisis plaguing the city. The Anti-Graffiti Network hired muralist Jane Golden to reach out to graffiti writers and to redirect their energies from destructive graffiti writing to constructive mural painting.
Every city in America should do this. I LOVED it. In fact, I’m anxious to go back and see more.
There’s a web site — PhillyMuralPics.com — that does a great job showcasing the murals.
Visit one or both of those sites. Poke around. I promise, you’ll be impressed.
Those murals are beautiful.
What a great program.
The downtown murals are nice, but I really love the ones in the more run-down areas. They brighten it up so much more and just lend such a great air of humanity, which folks often overlook when passing through the more downtrodden urban areas.
My comment was going to be, “What’s up with that?”. And then you explained it. Great Post!
Beautiful!
I agree — public art is so great.