Murals as a form of Civic Media

Media plays a large role in how citizens act in relation to an issue or cause. Mass media allows people across the world to gather around an issue and talk about it. Platforms such as Twitter and Facebook are known to be spaces for media exchange and conversation about a particular topic or issue. While the conversation is important to raising awareness, action is ultimately what alters the direction of an issue. There is a particular way people use media for civic justice is called civic media. Civic media is the type of media that brings attention to issues that might not otherwise be exposed.

Media is often defined as something digital, whether that be television, radio, newspapers and magazines, websites, or social media platforms. However, other outlets of media are often overlooked. Murals in the city of Philadelphia can be categorized as a type of media. More specifically, Philadelphia murals can be considered a form of civic media. There are more than 3,800 murals that decorate the buildings of Philadelphia. Murals are not just paintings that are artistically appealing and have no meaning, though; they tell stories and bring awareness to issues impacting the city and the designers of the murals. Neighborhoods that are abandoned or forgotten beg for murals to be painted on their walls to bring attention to them in hopes that the struggles of that area will be exposed.

AIDS is a huge issue that affects millions across the world, but is under recognized in the city of Philadelphia. Due to the lack of resources in urban areas of the city, AIDS is more popular than society recognizes and gives it credit for. According to AIDSVu, an online mapping system that illustrates the prevalence of HIV/AIDS in the United States, 31.5% of Philadelphia’s population was diagnosed with HIV in the last 12 months. Due to expensive treatments, many people diagnosed are forced to live with HIV and AIDS until it takes over and kills them. While this medical issue is something that most people do have knowledge and awareness of, what lacks is the understanding of how greatly it affects the voiceless people of Philadelphia. In an effort to raise awareness, a mural was erected depicting how AIDS affects families.

The image above demonstrates the stages of grief revolving around AIDS. It is significant that the images of the people all indicate that they are in despair and pain from the physical and emotional affects of the disease. The only clear indication of the actual issue is found in the red ribbon that reads “Protect yourself with knowledge against AIDS.” This ribbon is not only directed at those who are at risk for contracting HIV, but also at those who lack knowledge of how greatly the disease affects the community. The image of the adults embracing one another is clearly a sign of family being affected by the disease because the woman is shown to be pregnant. This could indicate that she has the disease and will either lose her child before birth, or the child will be born with the eminent death of his or her mother at hand. The other images are equally emotion-evoking for anyone who take the time to look at and internalize them. I remember seeing this mural for the first time in person and staring at each piece in silence. Each image resonated with me and alerted me to the very real issue that is the AIDS epidemic in Philadelphia. This mural did a civic justice by raising awareness within at least one person who did not have a full understanding of this issue.

Incarceration is another issue that is prominent in Philadelphia. The city has hundreds of men locked up and away from their families. Many men find themselves in jail with either a young child at home or a child on the way. This leaves many young girls and boys in the city without a father, or father figure, present in their lives. The affects of a broken family are not able to be shared or understood the way they can be by those living in such a situation. Many men fear the resentment their children may direct toward them as a result of not being present in their lives.

The mural above was created by incarcerated men and their children. It got them out of the prison and kept them on close watch, but allowed them to express their struggles in a creative manner. The small pictures were painted by the children of incarcerated parents. The larger images depict a relationship that the men once had with their children before they went to jail or the relationships they dream of having but are not capable of having because they are in prison. The immediate understanding of incarcerated men is that they are just bad people; but this mural alters that societal opinion by exposing the familial side of incarcerated men that many people choose not to see.

The Peace Wall is a mural that was completed in the 1997 and depicts the unity of all ages and races. According the Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, this mural was inspired by the racial violence in Grays Ferry neighborhood and aimed to demonstrate the community’s commitment to ending racial division. The image below is actually a photograph of community members of all ages and races that was then painted large scale in mural form. This means that the racial walls were broken in effort to make this mural, and is not just an idealized image of what a few individuals of the same race wish a community could be.

Post traumatic stress disorder affects millions of men and women who return from war. Many veterans do not have a strong community around them upon returning home. The Our City Our Vets mural is a representation of the struggles that veterans faced while at war and demonstrates that they have a community to come home to. The Mural Arts Program and Warrior Writers joined forces in this media production of this mural. The audience for this form of civic media was not the general population, but rather the veterans themselves to show them that they have a community to share their stories and experiences with. This is a civic justice that often goes unnoticed and unaddressed, but means more than words to the men and women returning from war.

Murals tell stories. Murals raise awareness. Murals build communities. This form of media is one that gets people on their feet and acting for a cause. A civic justice is being served by the creation of the murals and by engaging those who view them.