As part of our Summer Leadership Institute, Groundswell collaborated with the South Bronx Overall Economic Development Corporation (SoBRO) to create a mural for the lobby of its main building. Artists Christopher Cardinale and Carolina Veloso worked with teens recruited from throughout New York City to plan and paint the mural during July and August. Three weeks into the project, the team held two community design presentations to share their design ideas with SoBRO staff and members of the local community. Working indoors and using a projector, the group built up layers of images on two MDF panels in a controlled and methodical process. The images in the mural reference the history and transformation of the South Bronx from an urban wasteland in the 1980’s to a renewed and thriving urban community today. Bronx landmarks are featured throughout the design, which is ringed with portraits of the diverse range of people and communities who make up the South Bronx.

As part of Groundswell’s Voices Her’d Visionaries program, a group of young women created “A New Day” through a series of discussions, writing, and art activities. Inspired by feminist history and leaders, the young women identified a mural theme of “Strong Women Build Safe Communities.” This theme is illustrated through ten figures, each of which represents an individual member of the mural team. In the mural, the figures stand proudly surrounded by waves and backed by a golden sky. Each wears a gown that depicts one of ten tenets of strong women building safe communities. From left to right across the first row and then the second, the tenets are: (1) high literacy and good schools; (2) involvement in and critical consumption of the media; (3) involvement in politics; (4) financial independence; (5) high employment and career alternatives; (6) parental supervision and involvement; (7) healthy bodies and foods; (8) honoring the ancestors; (9) afterschool programs; and (10) clean and liveable streets.

Wyckoff Gardens is a public housing development located in the Gowanus area of Brooklyn. As the Wyckoff Gardens Community Center looked for opportunities to support the community’s revitalization efforts, the Center's Director contacted Groundswell to create a series of murals. Groundswell's Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) afterschool program partnered with Wyckoff Gardens to create "Train to Read,” a mural that wraps around the Center’s entire literacy room. TEMA apprentice muralists met with staff and children in the literacy program and created a mural to meet their needs and the needs of the room. The finished mural visually transforms the entire space in a colorful celebration of the importance of reading and literacy. This was the first of two murals created at Wyckoff Gardens Community Center.

Monroe High School is located in the South Bronx, in the heart of the area that gave birth to Hip Hop in the 1970s. Monroe High School wanted to recognize the historical impact and cultural contribution of the neighborhood by creating a mural in the school lunch room to acknowledge and celebrate early Hip Hop culture and the local figures that created it. The Groundswell team decided to focus on portraits of the key figures that were instrumental in beginning Hip Hop as a movement. Other images of significance that were generated included the housing projects where Hip Hop began, the number 4 and 6 trains that serve the South Bronx, graffiti style lettering, and break dancing. Local DJ Cool Clyde, the first DJ to use the scratching technique and who still lives in the neighborhood, spent time with the group and is included in the mural. Teachers and members of the school community were highly impressed by the visual impact of the mural and the enthusiasm of the participants.

The diverse community living on Graham Avenue, known locally as Avenue of Puerto Rico, is comprised of Latino, African American, and Caribbean peoples. “Yesterday I Dared to Struggle. Today I Dare To Win,” created through Groundswell’s Voices Her’d Visionaries program, represents this community in four sections. The first is entitled “Portraits of a Remarkable Future” and features portraits of each Voices Her’d participant towering above a city skyline, dressed to show what they want to be in ten years. Together, the remaining three sections tell the story of one family. The story begins with a large red window which frames a scene of pepper fields filled with women. A tree breaks through its borders and enters a kitchen, where the peppers become a wallpaper motif. A grandmother, mother, and daughter cook side by side. In the final section, a crowd holds candles, representing the young artists’ support and inspiration. The crowd includes women that the Voices Her'd group wrote about as their personal role models and individuals from the neighborhood who have served the community for over fifty years. They are the strength and hope for future generations.

As part of our Summer Leadership Institute, Groundswell partnered with Neighbors Helping Neighbors to create a mural as part of the organization’s neighborhood improvement efforts. The team of youth muralists interviewed members of the Sunset Park community to generate ideas for mural imagery. During these interviews, the youth heard an unusual story about a crate of parrots from the Dominican Republic that escaped from a truck in Sunset Park. The parrots migrated to Green-Wood Cemetery, which has remained their home for many generations. The parrots, like the people of Sunset Park, have come together in one neighborhood from many different places in the world. Inspired by this story, the group decided to use it as a central motif in the mural. “One World Unity” encapsulates the spirit of Sunset Park. The story of the freed parrots serves as a reminder to the community that when unexpected people and things come together, amazing results are possible.

“Unity Arches” is a series of five wooden arches with varied dimensions created for Lutheran Medical Center and its Family Health Centers' Family Support Center. All five arches are stabilized with wooden bases decorated with mosaic tiles. The original vision of the project was to create a mural along the perimeter of the Center’s parking lot, painted on plywood and installed along the lot's fence. The mural design would celebrate the benefits of the Center to the local community. The community sharing of the proposed mural, however, raised controversy among local residents. While the mural was intended to show unity, a divide arose among residents who approved of the project and those who didn't want to see a mural on their block. The conflict over the mural became an important element of the final project. The group was forced to rethink their ideas based on the feedback received at the community meeting. The project inspired all participants to both stand up for what they believe in and realize a great deal of untapped creativity.

In creating this mural for PS 24, a bilingual magnet school in Sunset Park, Groundswell’s Voices Her’d Visionaries team decided to tell the stories of the thousands of immigrant mothers who come to New York City in search of a better life each year. The Visionaries spoke with mothers from the school and the neighborhood in a series of interviews conducted in English, Spanish, and Chinese. The mural is composed of two main components: a series of pillars representing the people whose stories are being told, and the horizontal, monochromatic piece that features landscapes from the homelands of the immigrants. Together, these two components follow women through their difficult journeys immigrating to the United States. The mural also depicts the struggle to raise first generation American children, especially as an undocumented person. As the mural closes, a mother considers her own situation and future possibilities. She begins to educate herself in an effort to better her future and the future of her family. As she improves her personal situation, she and her family move towards a brighter day.

Groundswell worked with elementary school students at PS 503 to create a mosaic to transform the school’s entrance and make it more inviting. The Groundswell team covered the outside and inside of the entrance’s glass brick windows, successfully beautifying the space for all who enter. Mosaic details were also installed on the door exteriors as colorful accents. The unifying theme of the mosaic is the lullaby “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” In the design, three figures reach upward to a bright night sky, as if to grasp at the stars. The figures’ long limbs reach like tree branches swaying in the wind. An additional mosaic created during a PS 503 Family Fun Night beautified another part of the school. A final mural entitled “Career Visions” was created through this partnership and celebrates the many future opportunities that await the students when they complete their schooling.

 
Impressed by a series of murals created by Groundswell youth at Wyckoff Gardens, the Atlantic Terminal Community Center commissioned Groundswell to create a new mural for its space in Prospect Heights. Youth participants enrolled in our Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) program met with staff and residents to develop a theme for the mural design. At an initial community meeting, the participants decided to represent and celebrate the diversity of the immediate community. The design includes images of bridges to symbolize a linking of cultures as well as people in both contemporary clothing and the traditional dress of the various African, Asian, Latino, Arab, and Caribbean cultures that make up the surrounding neighborhood. Local landmarks are also featured, including the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower and Fort Greene Park. Central to the design is the main building at Atlantic Terminal itself.