By Constance Gibbs
After a peaceful protest over the death of George Floyd, the Minneapolis man who died in police custody, ended in chaos, several St. Louis businesses boarded up their storefronts. Instead of seeing damaged buildings, Jayvn Solomon, ’14, and Tyson Baker, ’17, graduates of Maryville’s design and visual arts programs, saw blank canvases.
The two came up with the idea of having Black artists paint the boarded-up storefronts, and paying them for their work. They co-founded PaintedBlack STL to empower Black artists to share their messages on these damaged buildings.
The first project was completed by Solomon on the exterior of Bella’s Frozen Yogurt. He created a mural of black dots and lines over purple semi-circles. The center features a Black fist inside a white heart with the letters “STL BLM” — St. Louis Black Lives Matter.
Other projects include George Floyd’s face in shades of gray with the words “One man can change the world” outside the Big Shark Bicycle Company. Colorful vines on a Medicine Shoppe Pharmacy include the names of people who have died at the hands of police.
The community response was overwhelming. “We had a huge outpouring of support from so many individuals that have offered to help,” Baker said. “We even have people who have found creative ways to start their own fundraising initiatives. It was incredible.”
But for some St. Louisans, the artwork was polarizing. “Some perceive that these buildings were destroyed by the Black Lives Matter movement, but we know that isn’t true,” Baker said. “That’s the point we were trying to make. It’s our hope that these works of art become symbols of community pride, hope, cooperation and equity.”
PaintedBlack STL is looking to the future and how it can continue to support Black artists, even after the boards come down. “We’re growing right now, and sometimes growing has a little pain in it,” Solomon said. “I think the only real solution is a just system, which means fixing or replacing some of the systems we currently have in place.”