Alumnae, Art and Activism

By Nicholyn Hutchinson

Header Photo: “Monuments: We Carry the Dream” by Yehimi Cambrón ’14 features of a series of portraits of the promising students from Freedom University, a nonprofit organization that provides college preparation classes, college and scholarship application assistance as well as leadership development for undocumented students in Georgia. Celebrating the humanity and resiliency of immigrants, the mural is a reminder that the power of their dreams transcends the borders of marginalization and anti-immigrant policies that try to criminalize them.

Atlanta is a city steeped in a history of civil rights, and Agnes Scott College is an institution steeped in a history of educating students to engage the intellectual and social challenges of their times. These two histories met with Off the Wall, a citywide mural project co-led by local arts organization WonderRoot and the Super Bowl Host Committee.

Alumnae Yehimi Cambrón ’14 and Charmaine Minniefield ’95 were two of 11 muralists selected to create community-driven public art installations around the city that tell the stories of its civil rights legacy and the current fight for social justice.

The murals were completed before Super Bowl LIII this past February, with Minniefield’s celebrating Ruby Doris SmithRobinson, who was a pillar of the Atlanta Student Movement and founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee, and with Cambrón’s highlighting the promise of young undocumented immigrants and the perseverance of freedom fighters of the civil rights movement, respectively.

Both Minniefield and Cambrón were honored to participate in Off the Wall and contemplated what it meant to be included in the deeply meaningful initiative.

“This was an opportunity as an artist for me to represent the rich civil rights history of our city. It gave me a chance to work in communities and to highlight that important history and to use the national platform of the Super Bowl to address contemporary social justice issues that continue to plague our country today. I had a chance to reflect on the past by remembering the voices of youth activists of the civil rights movement in particular,” Minniefield says.

“Through Off the Wall’s process—from community conversations to conceptualization to the installation of the murals—I was able to multiply tenfold my activism and the social justice-based and narrative-based art projects that I have been working on,” Cambrón says. “I am a young Mexicana undocumented artist, and this identity is a huge point of pride for me. I want to take back my narrative and that of my parents, who are the original dreamers, and frame it in a positive, empowering and uncensored way through my art. This citywide initiative allowed me to break boundaries and fulfill my purpose.”

Yehimi Cambrón ’14

“Freedom Fighters” by Yehimi Cambrón ’14 features inspirational words from civil rights leader and Atlanta native Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., with a sunrise in the background symbolizing hope and the dawning of a new day. Past and present fights for justice are represented with the figures, inspired by activists who participated in lunch counter sit-ins during the civil rights movement, risking arrest, and by undocumented youth mobilized in civil disobedience, risking deportation.

Photo by BEAM Imagination

With its connection to the Super Bowl, the Off the Wall project received significant media coverage from outlets including the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta magazine, CBS News and CNN. Additionally, thousands of Atlanta visitors and residents have viewed the 30 murals painted on buildings throughout the city’s neighborhoods.

The high level of interest generated is not only a reflection of the impact of art meeting activism but also a reminder of the great responsibility artists bear.

“Public art has the power to change public discourse on social justice topics and to expand people’s worldview. Portraits specifically can help humanize issues for people who are only familiar with them from the information they receive from politicians and the media,” Cambrón notes.

“Visual symbolism and imagery have power. As artists, we have a chance to shape the ethics of society. We have the power to spark and drive a movement toward hope, love, justice and freedom,” adds Minniefield. “With this, I believe that art and culture are key in the struggle for social change. Art can be the forum that brings us together as a society and breaks down barriers and levels the ground so we can fully understand each other. Art is the heartbeat of humanity, and through it, we can finally achieve freedom.”

WonderRoot says the Off the Wall murals will remain up for five years. More information about the murals as well as tours can be found at offthewallatl.org. In the meantime, Minniefield and Cambrón are each working on exciting new projects.

Charmaine Minniefield ’95

Photo by MLA Graphics

“Visionary for Justice” by Charmaine Minniefield ’95 honors Ruby Doris Smith-Robinson, an influential member of the Atlanta Student Movement spearheaded by Atlanta University Center students and founder of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Her story is one of youth-led resistance, in which she organized the disruptions of segregated businesses by staging sit-ins at lunch counters and coordinating protests.

Photo by BEAM Imagination

Minniefield has been commissioned by the mayor of Atlanta to paint a mural for sharing the story of Ella Baker, an important leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference who encouraged youth activism. The Ella Baker mural will be included in the Off the Wall series. She will also be painting a mural for Agnes Scott’s campus this spring, a project that will be overseen by the Agnes Scott Art Advisory Committee. Minniefield also has a residency at Emory University this fall and will begin a final work commissioned by Flux Projects to be completed next year.

Cambrón is re-creating the “Education Is Liberation Monarch” mural, which was originally painted for Living Walls, The City Speaks’ Buford Highway (BuHi) Walk in 2017 and removed by the wall owner last year. She was also recently selected as the winner for the Living Walls’ Laura Patricia Calle Grant for her mural project “Monuments: The Original Dreamers.” Cambrón’s project will create a platform for positive dialogue among immigrant families, with the mural celebrating the strong mothers who are the resilient hearts of these families.