peace art: welcome to the mural capital of the world

sometimes i've heard Camden described as the armpit of Philadelphia. well, if we're the armpit, and Philly is an arm, then it is an arm covered in the creations of a multitude of collaborative tattoo artists.

um, WHAT?? in other words, the city is a larger-than-life artistic playground, with sides of buildings serving as the canvases, and cooperating groups of kids, youth, seasoned painters, sculptors, mosaic makers, state penitentiary prisoners, homeless men and women, historians, musicians, physicians, maybe even politicians, students, social workers, photographers, families and whole communities, all participants in the process of designing and painting and putting these in place.

we held our first Family Saturday field trip today, which entailed loading 35 kids, parents/guardians, and Miss N. and I onto a chartered school bus, crossing the Ben Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia (it was the first time for 3 of the kids ever getting out of Camden!), picking up a tour guide from the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, and roaming from center to north to south Philly, stopping frequently at the side of the road to take a closer look at a few of the thousands of massive creations that have earned Philadelphia the title "Mural Capital of the World."

at one set of murals we were able to get out of the bus and walk right up to them. these particular murals were done by artists in collaboration with a group of prison inmates and a group of victims of violent crimes. the first one we came up to was called 'healing walls (inmates journey)', and it depicts a collage of things that contributed to the destructive patterns of behavior in their lives. the second one is called 'healing walls (victims journey)', and it shows an array of both the suffering faces and the healing forces that have helped them.

in this little slideshow, you'll see some pics of the kids soaking in the tour, and then some pics of my own personal favorite murals in Philadelphia. if you want to see more and pick your own favs (and even visit them if you're in the area!) you can go to www.muralfarm.org. they have a pretty sweet search engine that'll show you any type of mural you want to see and the address so you can find it.

but look out Philly, you've got competition. some kids from Camden just saw some of your best-kept secrets, got the insider's scoop from a lovely lady named Lisa who knows all the ins and outs of mural-making, and now they have an inkling of how to set their own city on fire with the desire to cooperate and beautify their communities.

and, God willing, they may be able to participate in making a mural of their own! as soon as we stepped off the bus back home in Camden, after taking the lovely/crazy group photo you see in the middle of the slideshow, we took a walk down a couple blocks to the local park's Little League storage building and concession stand, which currently has blank off-white cinderblock walls. there's a non-profit that wants to grant us the money for an artist to work with our kids to design and create a mural on it, to brighten up the neighborhood and deter graffiti and foster community pride and spirit. SI DIOS QUIERE! POR FAVOR! SI SE PUEDE!!!!!!!