Mural as Mirror

Growing Food and Justice for All Newsletter, March 2009

Andrea Godshalk

It seemed like a miracle the way we painted the mural in four days. Nine panels four by twelve feet, the mural bloomed with a magnificence no one artist could have achieved. The dedicated folks at the gathering came together dancing in a potent moment held up by countless hours of coordination and planning, visioning. The first Growing Food and Justice for All gathering was a huge success and that is visible in the lasting artifact that was created in the mural.

The mural and the gathering are mirrors of each other. Both moved through brave declarations, making plain oppression and the way racism tears wounds in this country which are never able to heal in the open air. On both the wooden panels and in workshop rooms ground work for visions was laid. People who work with soil and compost, the people who work where things grow, came together to share the seeds of what works. That is what the mural shows and that is what the gathering was; an abundant coming together, a training, a nourishing reprise from the hard and steady work of recreating the world.

For the mural we started with a blank slate. Erika Allen, who works at Growing Power Chicago, sketched out a frame work. The images move through time, laying out the history of African people enslaved, through movements of resistance. Images honor the civil rights movement, the United Farm Workers and the Campesinos who are now fighting for fair wages in a globalized economy. Then the mural moves into images of communities with children, bikes, and food growing where we live. Large worms dance in the soil and the statement, “down below the grassroots” shows us where things really start.

The last panels show the present and visions of the future. The work we are currently doing fully ripened and harvested. Conversations with people of many races, experiences and perspectives grow into an abundance of food, music, and expression. The mural like the gathering could never have been as dynamically bright had it been just one person’s vision. In the painting there were all different brush strokes, rhythms and approaches. Many visions made one image. Just as many visions make one movement, the movement to dismantle racism starting with the food system. The movement to create abundance. Abundance of food, jobs and celebrations. To create the kind of societies where life is pleasure and not unnecessary struggle.

There is no where to start but right now. Many people were hesitant to paint, to add their vision. With a little encouragement they did paint and afterwards beamed at their contribution. The mural and the movement is all the stronger for it. Maureen Kelly, who works at WHY in New York, after painting a carrot and peaches was thrilled with herself, though she had started doubtful and afraid. Which is also how she felt when she identified the need to dialogue about racism at her work place. Though shaky and unsure, she trusted the quiet and solid voice in her that urged her on. So she reached out to Jim Hanna. Jim has been doing antiracism work for many years though has never facilitated a dismantling racism workshop. When Maureen stepped beyond her comfort zone and asked Jim for support in addressing these issues, Jim was able to step beyond his comfort zone and facilitate an anti-racism workshop. We help each other grow and be more effective no matter where we are located in the movement by reaching out and pushing ourselves beyond where we are comfortable, out where change happens.

To paint a mural we must paint our visions. To make a movement we must create our visions. As with community art and movement building, there are layers of histories and energies of those who have come before us, people whose struggles made room for the work we are now doing. To bring justice into the world we sink our feet deep into the earth where our roots always give us guiding strength and we lift our hearts to the sky of possibility and open wide as our visions transform us as we transform the world.

The mural that was painted at the first Growing Food and Justice For All Gathering is installed at Growing Power at 55th and Silverspring in Milwaukee WI. The mural we painted is the third layer, the third manifestation of a mural that has brightened that space for years.