The graffiti-painted walls Inside FresherFades Barber Studio on Mount Vernon Avenue exude a mix of pride and sorrow.
The artwork reflects the often complicated tangle of emotions felt by those inside who are getting fades and tapers while listening to the trial of Derek Chauvin, the former Minneapolis police officer charged in the May death of George Floyd.
On this morning, owner-barber Jamal Islam, 26, is razor-focused on the profile of his 20-year-old customer who is getting a high-top fade. Beside him
on the wall, a Columbus skyline and blue sky blends into an image of Islam s late father, Eric Ray, who was shot and killed in 1999.