Amid the chaos of a construction site at 14th and V Streets in Northwest Washington, a separate project unfolded Sunday on the sidewalk.
Artists like Mel Bieler transforming a blank wall into a space of understanding.
Bieler says, “We wanted to take the skills that we have as artists and designers to the street to continue to share the messages. Messages of hope really to help everybody push forward through this moment.”
Volunteers with the Denver Smith Foundation painted the names of people, some familiar and others you may have never heard of, on a mural that stretches the entire block. This mural, called “Say Their Names”, is dedicated to black lives ended by police brutality and racial injustice.
Washington D.C. resident Aisha Ali says, “It’s almost like the wall grabs you.”
Ali believes something created in only a weekend already feels like a timeless call to action.
“Well, hey God made the world stop so it’s something to get done. It has to be done,” says Ali.
While this flowing piece of protest art is strewn with broken hearts, the force behind this installation says it’s so much more than that.
Denver Terrance says, “It’s a wall of pain. It’s a wall also of promise.”
Denver Terrance was named after his uncle Denver Smith: a college student killed during a protest in 1972 at Southern University.
“He was shot by an East Baton Rouge Sheriff’s Deputy who claimed that he’d mistaken his tear gas canister for a shotgun shell. Obviously, there was no justice and no one was held accountable for that incident.”
Terrance says the motivation here was to create change by building a space that allows passers-by to grieve, to think and to remind themselves that although George Floyd’s injustice sparked a movement, so many came before him.
Terrance adds, “I believe that we all have a role to play and I believe my role is to bring it to light.”
“And to remind people that this isn’t a week, this is a moment in time, this is a movement and it needs to continue on for the rest of our lives,” says Bieler.
The Denver Smith Foundation created “Say Their Names” along with several other evocative murals throughout the city in the last couple of weeks. The foundation is partnering with artists and designers who work at Design Foundry and are volunteering their time for this initiative, which is titled #cre8change.
If you would like to follow this project and check out their other murals, their Instagram hashtag is #cre8change. Other murals are located at Park and 14th NW, 14th and I NW, 14th and H NW, 5th and K NW, 7th and H NW, 6th and F NW and 14th and NW.
The murals were designed by Meghan Malik, Marjani Abugo, Mel Bieler and Za Johns.