Starting in the fall of 2020, Ahha Tulsa was pleased to extend our building as a canvas for local Black artists to create temporary chalk murals centered around the theme: Messages of Hope and Reconciliation. While most of the murals have now washed away, M. Florine Démosthène’s magnet piece can still be seen on the southwest corner of the building. Below is a gallery of the murals that were created by the featured muralists.
Chris Sker is a Tulsa-born muralist and graffiti artist.
“I was privileged to create this graffiti art piece, and I thank ahha for their dedication to community engagement. As an African American artist born and raised in Tulsa, I was proud to be the first person invited to take part in this project. My goal was to create large-scale public art that inspires dialogue and encourages positivity. I selected the word “Hope” to reflect my feelings as we enter 2021: it’s about looking forward, wanting a good future for our children, hoping for a better tomorrow.”
Chris “Sker” Rogers of Sker Creative
Instagram: @sker_creative
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Alexander Tamahn is a multi-disciplinary visual artist and founding member of Tulsa artist collective Black Moon.
“This mural was grounded in instilling HOPE in all who see it. I find inspiration in the resiliency of nature—particularly plant’s ability to grow in some of the most unlikely and unforgiving environments (exacerbated all the more by human interference). Bright colors energize and excite me as well. I combined these elements and added typography to affirm audiences of their own resiliency and ability to achieve whatever they aspire to do and become.”
Alexander Tamahn
Instagram: @alexandertamahn
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Antonio Andrews is a visual artist and founder of No Parking Studios.
“My mural is about the hip hop scene we cultivated here in Tulsa. I wanted to showcase that the community we built is exactly the change we wanted to see. We are a living embodiment of hope and resilience.”
Antonio Andrews of No Parking Studios
Instagram: @noparkingstudios
noparkingstudios.com
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Alexandra O’Neal is a Tulsa born artist who works in watercolor, acrylic, and digital media.
“I chose to create a yellow non-binary character as the focus of this mural with a positive quote about hope that I came up with. I made sure to include negative space in my mural design so that guests can take photos with my piece and share this message of hope via their social media accounts.”
Alexandra O’Neal
Instagram: @_AlexsAesthetics_
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Karina Cunningham is an emerging black artist residing in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
While we can’t change our past there is hope to redraw the future. As a country we’ve come through a very hard era of political unrest, crisis and divide. However, with the new 46th presidency there is hope to draw a new, more inclusive future. Now is the time to celebrate the small victories, come together to draft a new era, and reflect on where we are going. This mural incorporates the idea of balloons to celebrate our small victories represented by the 46th presidency and the phoenix balloon animal serves as a symbol for the rebirth of our country’s direction. The statue of liberty represents many things about the American past and present, but now is the time to redraw what represents America. Who do we support? What do we want to represent? How are we going to mend or past mistakes?
Karina Cunningham
Instagram: @karina_whitney
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Christina Henley is a visual artist and member of Black Moon Artist Collective.
My mural, titled All Your Strength, is inspired in part by the Bible verse Mark 12:30. This mural depicts a Black woman wearing armor and looking strong in stance, not scared of the future but full of power and hope. This mural is represents Black Tulsans (and other BIPOC) that have both a desire and need to see themselves positively represented in public art. My hope is that this type of representation will spark a new perspective and dialogue on why diversity is a vital part of strong, enriched communities. Creating this mural could be one small step towards reconciliation.
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M. Florine Démosthène is a visual artist and Tulsa Artist Fellow.
“There are a number of differing opinions among historians and non-historians regarding the actual number of people killed during the riot. These range from 36 to more than 300. The truth is no one actually knows. This issue is aggravated by the semantic difference between “died in the riot” and “died as a result of the riot.” (Tulsa Race Riot Commission)
The goal of my collaborative installation is to honor and literally “put a name” to those who loss their lives as a result of the massacre. Working with TRRC and LM Laser (and African American fabricator), I compiled a list of names of those who died or were wounded (both identified and unidentified). Each name was digitally designed in a script font, and laser cut out of a thin magnetic sheet. The front surface of each name was painted with an industrial grade glow-in-the-dark paint and each name was then individually affixed to the exterior wall of ahha Tulsa. During the day, the names absorb sunlight that allows them to visibly glow in the evening.
Artist Website: https://florinedemosthene.com/home.html
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