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PHILADELPHIAWEEKLY.COM @PHILLYWEEKLY
FIVE OF PHILADELPHIA’S MUST-SEE MURALS
FEBRUARY 3 - 10, 2022 | PHILADELPHIA WEEKLY
WRITTEN BY JOSH HITCHENS One of the crown jewels of the city is undoubtably Mural Arts Philadelphia, which has been creating extraordinary works of art in collaboration with local neighborhoods and social justice programs for over thirty-five years. The largest public art program in the United States and dedicated to the mission that “art ignites change,” Mural Arts has led to Philadelphia becoming known as the City of Murals. Here are five that will take your breath away when you visit them.
1. LEGACY Location: 707 Chestnut Street Artists: Josh Sarantitis and Eric Okdeh Located two blocks away from Independence Hall, Legacy is an immense mural measuring nearly ten thousand square feet that shows how the enslavement of Black men, women, and children is inextricably woven into the history of Philadelphia and the United States. The left portion of the mural depicts Africa through the wooden boards of a slave ship, the boards painted red and white, the final color blue of the US flag is found throughout. The central figure is a young Black girl of the present day, wearing medallions featuring Frederick Douglass, Abraham Lincoln, and an abolitionist coin circa 1830 bearing the words “Am I not a woman and a sister?” Made of over one million glass tiles, Legacy was created in collaboration with five local public schools as well as artist inmates from the State Correctional Institution at Graterford.
