George Floyd Murals in Minneapolis: Can Aesthetic Make Change?
June 2020. In a year dominated by a shift towards a COVID-standstill and isolation, June saw a national reaction forcing people to come together. On May 25th, 2020, George Floyd was brutally suffocated to death by police officer Derek Chauvin after using a counterfeit dollar bill at Cup Foods on 38th and Chicago Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Once again a powerful and systemic institution built on racism took the life of a man in the minority. This issue was not new, and this was not the first time that a life had been lost of a Black person in the hands of the police. Maybe it was the pent-up frustration with the state of the world and country for the past months or the past four years of the Trump presidency, but a breaking point was reached, and protests erupted for weeks across not only Minneapolis, but the whole world in support of the Black Lives Matter mission.
In preparation and response to the looting that was occurring during protests many businesses and buildings in Minneapolis boarded up their windows. This situation brought the attention it deserved to the social change necessary across America, as both businesses and artists (and non-artists) made a choice to change the retail and artistic landscape of Minneapolis for the summer and beyond. The plain wooden boards that resembled a shut down and apocalyptic city were later painted by both organized and unorganized murals. Some murals took a detached, arguably ignorant, approach, praising peace and love, while others commemorated and remembered George Floyd and the other innocent Black lives that have been lost at the hands of the police. Others confronted the issue head on, identifying and targeting the structural issue that is taking these innocent lives: the police. A diverse group of artists with a diverse range of ideas contributed to this artistic intervention across Minneapolis. Yet, key differences appear when comparing the organized (unaffiliated with Black Lives Matter) artistic campaigns with unorganized murals and graffiti across Minneapolis. When comparing the sanctioned and organized murals painted across the buildings of the trendy and upscale uptown district in Minneapolis, romanticized messages of memoriam and peace are presented. In comparison, the less institutionalized murals, primarily created by BIPOC artists, present the antagonistic art and activism that is needed to make change and save lives.
Uptown Minneapolis is nestled between two popular lakes in Minneapolis and is home to high end restaurants and popular and expensive shopping sites such as Urban Outfitters and the North Face. Like many other similar hotspots, the area took a hit when the bustling area was forced to shut down because of COVID-19 in March 2020. This spot is home to the popular Uptown Art Fair held in August each year, but with the rampant spread of COVID-19, it had to be shut down for 2020. However, this artistic hub was able to take the challenges of COVID-19 and the precautions taken against the riots to become an artistic tourist spot amidst a shut-down city. Jill Osiecki Gleich, the interim director of the Uptown Association, aimed to bring vitality to the neighborhood by recruiting local artists to decorate the boarded-up shops.[1] While any artist was welcome to reach out, the organization of this artistic project was a collaboration between the wants of the neighborhood businesses, pairing them with artists who fit their vision and approval. Artists, who were primarily white, drove in from rural Minnesota and neighboring states to paint these panels.[2]
Response from the artists and participants were enthusiastic. Cheryl Shohet, a studio artist, said that “Coming here to paint feels like a great way to be able to affect some positive change“ [3]Acknowledging her privilege and the role that she could play in civil rights, Shohet exclaimed that, “As a white woman in this community, I really want other people that look like me to really listen—and to understand that George Floyd was the spark that lit the match. And maybe this time, the spark will make some change.”[4] Following her words, her mural to make change features a Black woman accompanied by songbirds with lyrics of Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish.” While this piece certainly celebrates Black artists and her intentions are to bring about change as a white woman, Shohet’s mural does not confront the change and modification of structures that is needed that would have saved the life of George Floyd and many others. Although an argument could be made as Holiday’s song “Strange Fruit” is confronting the history of lynching, and George Floyd’s life was taken by a modern-day police lynching, those ideas are not connected directly or intentionally for the reader or viewer. The bright hues of orange and hopeful symbols of the birds emerging from the natural hair of the Black woman portrayed on the panel echo themes of commemoration — as in, commemorating the Black struggle that is evident through American history and the struggle the killed George Floyd. Yet, Shohet fails to identify what can be done to combat and get rid of this struggle. By referencing lynching and Black artists who rose to fame in the ashes of the civil rights movement dated to the 1960s, she is referencing racism and the death of George Floyd as an event of the past leading to a change, while sadly in 2021 we see that this is not evident.
This non-confrontational aspect of Shohet’s mural is echoed across uptown. Like Shohet, the majority of artists who collaborated with the Uptown Association were not BIPOC and had murals that celebrated Black artists or praised non-controversial positions such as “spreading peace and love.” It certainly created an attraction, as many traveled to Uptown to view the colorful and hopeful murals, and many children were included in the creation and painting of them, creating an inclusive space where many can make the change that Shohet intends to herself. As a matter of fact, the artwork here is so unconfrontational that anyone, even someone who would want to praise the police and enhance their power, could walk around, enjoy the murals, and feel connected the “change” that they are enacting.
Contrary to Uptown’s organized murals, many murals on boards, empty spaces, and installations across the Minneapolis area confronted the root of this issue head on, aligning themselves with the Black Lives Matter organization and criticizing the policing institution that murdered George Floyd and institutionalize systems of injustice throughout the country. Less than a mile away from the center of Uptown and Shohet’s mural, artists took to their own the boarded-up windows and entryways of businesses.
Spray painted across the black exterior of US bank on 28th Street and Hennepin is, “ACAB, F*CK THE POLICE” (Workday Minnesota). The stylistic black siding was not even covered in panels to protect it, yet artists didn’t limit their reactions and activism to the space that businesses used protection against riots for human rights. The strong language and direct invocation of the police has the ability to truly direct attention to the problem, who is causing it, and why these boards are installed in the first place.
Outside of Misfit Coffeeshop on 24th and Lyndale, a popular area full of restaurants, blocked letters with coordinated shadows and designs spell “Dismantle Systemic Fascism” with other messages – such as, “Prosecute the police,” and, “Don’t stop fighting”—simply spray painted in the surrounding free space. Furthermore, a small portrait of George Floyd was pasted next to the panels, using his image to connect to the reason for these messages and the protesting going on, instead of making him the focus of mourning and of injustices of the past. The pairing of these panels full of the messages with the way that the coffee shop continued to run, with the workers standing proudly in front of the panels serving coffee, illustrates the power that these words and businesses can have. This coffeeshop is creating a conversation by broadcasting and providing space for ideas and reactions against the injustices that are occurring within the local city and the country, bringing attention to the fact that there are systemic racism issues currently, not simply in the past.
Outside of the eatery Muddy Waters which neighbors Uptown closely, instead of murals, messages are spray painted upon the two windows. The first says, “Crying bout they Targets, We Been Targets,” the next directly challenges the mission that Shohet brought to her mural in Uptown, saying, “Your white tears will find no comfort here.”[5] This storefront directly opposes and confronts the work of the Uptown Arts association, as their pieces intend to act in solidarity and in solace with the losses while not attacking the issue of institutions that are taking the lives of Black people. Most importantly, this storefront confronts the ideas of “white tears” of artists like Shohet, who came to Uptown to illustrate their reaction, or a stylized adaptation of a reaction, towards an event and systems that have not targeted them. The power in this storefront is that it confronts the way that many people walking by think about themselves and their place in this fight for racial justice. It draws people to consider the work that they can do, and what they should be doing, making people center the voices and people who are targeted by this issue instead of themselves.
Comparing the organized Uptown murals with the others erupting across the city, a clear difference between the ambiguous, arguably “inclusive,” and peaceful murals compared with the political and confrontational ones emerge. Both types cover and act as band aids, protecting the inside of the businesses and as a piece of activism to combat the structural racism that is killing others. But are both types of art useful? Do both have a place in combatting racism, or do some simply uphold the current systems that need to change? How do the different styles play into the different eyes of onlookers and contribute to the debate about how to solve or what should be done about these issues?
In his article, “Cities Within the City: Do-It-Yourself Urbanism and the Right to the City,” urban geographer Kurt Iveson explores the way that street art influences urban spaces. With street art, one thing that Iveson emphasizes is the power of dialogue which it carries:
If we were to consider the dialogue of design in the same way we do the linguistic development of a culture’s language, then just as street-level vernacular has innovated and filled in the gaps of a culture’s formal language, the street has as well developed its own vernacular to fill the gaps in the city’s formal design. This new street-level language of design – non-commissioned, non-ignited interventions in the urban landscape – transforms the fixed landscape of the city into a platform for a design dialogue.[6]
Kurt Iveson
What Iveson is saying is that the murals and graffiti in the streets are forming the language and future dialogue of the city. It is determining and shaping what will come next and how people will think and approach issues. Iveson is pointing to the critical aspect of both perspective and expression that these murals can have, which is why the Uptown murals fall short. Although the Uptown Murals celebrate Black lives and honor George Floyd, what they lack is a dialogue. They are not challenging ideas but simply representing the present from a distanced and prominently white point of view. It isn’t filling the streets with a new vernacular that Iveson explores, it is echoing performative activism with messages such as “stronger together” and “in memorial of George Floyd.” They are quoting Martin Luther King Jr. about peaceful protest and honoring his work, without taking into account the antagonistic and confrontational messages and action needed to promote change which many of the unassociated pieces do. However, the other murals and non-sanctioned graffiti take a stance that allows people to realize that racism is not simply part of the past and history; rather, it is an issue that needs to be fought for right now. Racism is currently taking the lives of others, and these murals have the tendency to center white perspectives and narratives, rather than uplifting the voices by those who are affected firsthand.
The murals in Uptown, with their messages of peace, turned activism into an aesthetic instead of action, a trend that has become so popular within the last year. People drove hours to view the colorful and celebratory murals as an adorning part of their shopping experience, which even allowed these murals to be used as a selling point and promotion of the gentrified neighborhood, directing resources and funds towards corporations and businesses who fail to actually enact the change their storefronts advertise. Furthermore, the voices that needed to be amplified are instead replaced, as very few Black voices were personally illustrated on these boards. Many artists who participated in the Uptown organization’s partnership intended the best. Both Osiecki Gleich and the artists were excited about the idea of donating the money from selling the boards to organizations that support BIPOC.[7] However, Uptown’s intervention neglects the power and storytelling from the people whose voices and lives are being killed and silenced. The murals in Uptown are centering the voices who need to take steps back and uplift those who are truly affected.
[1] Tess Allen, “George Floyd Murals Paint Uptown With Awareness And Hope,” Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, June 9, 2020, https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/painting-uptown-with-awareness-and-hope/.
[2] Ibid.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Bennett Hartz, “Memorials To George Floyd Fill The Boarded-Up Streets Of Minneapolis,” Workday Minnesota, June 4, 2020, https://workdayminnesota.org/memorials-to-george-floyd-fill-the-boarded-up-streets-of-minneapolis/.
[6] Kurt Iveson, “Cities Within the City: Do-It-Yourself Urbanism and the Right to the City,” in International Journal of Urban and Regional Research 37.3 (2013): 947. doi:10.1111/1468-2427.12053.
[7] Tess Allen, “George Floyd Murals Paint Uptown With Awareness And Hope,” Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, June 9, 2020, https://mspmag.com/arts-and-culture/painting-uptown-with-awareness-and-hope/.
Image 1: Photo Credit: MSP Magazine
In central Uptown, Cheryl Shohet is pictured working her mural described in the essay. As seen, the Black woman with the afro has birds emerging from her hair and is connected to the earth with a tree trunk in her neck. When the mural was finished, lyrics from Stevie Wonder’s “I Wish” and Billie Holiday’s “Strange Fruit” were combined and painted onto the piece: “I hope you hear inside my voice of sorrow / And that it motivates you to make a better tomorrow.”
Image 2: Photo Credit: Thirdeyemom.com
This mural is by @JRootsArt. Here, Gianna Floyd is presented as almost martyr, with a halo effect around her and a BLM background. With the bright yellow and sunshine hues above, it presents an optimistic view on the role that the 2020 protests will have on the Black Lives Matter movement and Black lives as a whole.
Image 3: Photo Credit: MSP Magazine
This picture is taken from the shopping district in the center of Uptown. The artist is unspecified. The location of the piece is on the windows of The North Face store. This piece illustrates a message of unity yet does not combat the current injustices.
Image 4: Photo Credit: Thirdeyemom.com
Here, many people are participating in the Uptown bookstore Magers & Quinn’s interactive and inclusive mural where they wanted everyone to have a chance to participate in the creation. This piece was coordinated by Amy Cunningham, a Minnesota artist and educator. Following the request of the bookstore owners who wanted a mural “reflecting peace” and to illustrate “peace without words,” Cunningham encouraged participants to paint Mandalas and Zentangles as symbolism.
Image 5: Photo Credit: WorkDayMinnesota.org
Here, the exterior of Muddy Waters eatery in the Lyn Lake neighborhood which neighbors Uptown is presented. On the first window, it says “Crying bout they targets, We been target” in quick simple black spray paint against the blank panel. On the other one, it says, “Your white tears will find no comfort here,” with repeated images of a Black woman drinking coffee with a middle finger gesture carved out of the pink poster
Image 6: Photo Credit: WorkdayMinnesota.org
This is taken outside of US bank on 28th and Hennepin in Minneapolis. Instead of simply illustrating the boarded-up windows, someone spray painted ACAB across the building. Seen on the boarded-up windows are messages and solidarity with BLM, Justice for George Floyd, and addressing Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey, with “Frey Lies.”
Image 7: Photo Credit: WorkdayMinnesota.org
This picture is taken outside Misfit Coffee on 24th and Lyndale. “Dismantle Systemic Fascism” is written in big block letters with other messages annotated throughout the blank space. An illustrated portrait of George Floyd is also displayed. Employees of the coffeeshop are serving outside of it