Street art painted on the sides of buildings or plywood-covered windows can help us understand the complexity of the dual pandemics of COVID-19 and systemic racism, reveals a mapping project spearheaded by St. Thomas faculty.
For the past year, a team of St. Thomas faculty and students have been working to systematically document and map street art. Dr. Todd Lawrence, Dr. Paul Lorah and Dr. Heather Shirey co-direct the Urban Art Mapping Project, which digitally archives the work of many artists and writers.
“People have used walls to claim space to tell their stories, to express their justified anger, and to show their vision for the future. Our goal is to amplify these voices and experiences and make sure that these textual and visual messages are not simply erased,” Shirey, an art history professor, said during the College of Arts and Sciences’ recent Teach-in Tuesday presentation.