TULSA, Oklahoma and MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota — The art that fuels culture in Black communities is often connected to traumatization brought on by systems of oppression. The buildings around 38th Street and Chicago Avenue at George Floyd Square and Tulsa’s Greenwood District are saturated with colorful murals depicting resilience and hope over trauma.
“Creative expression is a common denominator that builds trust amongst our divided human nature,” said Jordan Powell-Karis. Powell-Karis, a Minneapolis-based storyteller, came to George Floyd Square roughly a week after the murder of George Floyd. His first thought was to build a sculpture of a fist.
“We built that [the fist] as an idea of a placeholder, something to hold the space when the streets were not open at that point” said Powell-Karis “We needed to have symbols of safety and the peoples power right here at ground zero where George Floyd was murdered”
The idea of creative expression as a unifier is one Tulsa-based poet Kode Ransom and Greenwood guide shares with Powell-Karis.
“I try to use my art to amplify the voices that most people don’t hear,” said Ransom. “Artists are history teachers, and they paint a picture with words in whatever way they want to use it. They are telling you the mindset of people, and the feelings of people. I try to use my art to amplify the voices that most people don’t hear.”
Ransom was among 20 members of key figures from the Greenwood District recognized on a collection of murals at the Elgin Street underpass. The installation was unveiled on June 1 as part of the fourth annual Black Wall Street Legacy Festival. The art seeks to give beloved community members respect while they are still living.
“To be able to walk them [tour groups] to a place where I am here and people who mentored me are here,” said Ransom. “It is dope that they’re being honored while they’re on this side of the dirt,”
Omaley B, a singer, songwriter and saxophonist born and raised in Greenwood, shares a similar sentiment.
“Music can calm an angry spirit, can give power to a heroic spirit, give peace to a troubled mind. Resilience is hope,” said Omaley. “What if I tried one more time, what if I loved deeply one more time, fight for something one more time. When it’s all over can I say I was truly resilient in my effort.”
Art memorials, like the murals on the Elgin underpass, represent a moment in time with people who are no longer with us. The murals engrave memories of those lost to the physical world.
“There’s a lot of grief out here [and] I try to use my art to be those words,” said Popeye, a Minneapolis artist who often works in George Floyd Square to memorialize the community’s pain. Popeye, who is known as Popeye Not Picasso, began painting murals after the tragic death of his close friend.
“I didn’t want to go to [her] funeral. I needed something to feel my time and that space. So I did a mural for her,” said Popeye. “In its own way [art] is therapeutic, it brings me peace. I use art as an expressive tool to say the things people can’t say.”
Popeye uses his art as a tool of personal and communal healing for the community. His murals are living reminders of the resilience of the neighborhood around 38th and Chicago. Recognizing how art has helped him process, Popeye sought to give the next generation the tools to do the same.
“I taught a class for two weeks straight to elementary students giving them a place to create, paint, and express themselves and be a part of history,”said Popeye. “When they see it and I do it for them it makes my heart and my time feel worth it.”
The culture of south Minneapolis and the Greenwood District embody the complexity of expression. Art as healing, resilience, remembrance and hope.
“This place [George Floyd Square] is a beacon of hope and human healing from a pretty dark time in the world,” said Powell-Karis “It makes me believe there is sunshine beyond the clouds.”
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