New from the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund: Black and Latinx Artists install “Murals for the Movement” — three large scale murals in conversation with racial injustice along the BQE in DUMBO

Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) and DUMBO Improvement District (Dumbo) announced today the unveiling of three new murals from Street Theory’s Murals for the Movement art initiative. Created at a time of deep social and political uprising, Murals for the Movement brings large-scale new works along the walls of the BQE and below the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo with an activation event on November 4 to include a walking tour to unveil and view each mural. On display through the Spring, Murals for the Movement is one of 12 projects funded through the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund, under New York State’s Downtown Revitalization Initiative and is designed to rebuild and reimagine communities by enhancing and amplifying opportunities for diverse, culturally inspired, and intersectional artwork by Black Artists and Artists of Color. The works are presented at these sites under the NYC Department of Transportation Art Program.

Started by Street Theory during the summer of 2020 as a response to the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and countless others, Murals for the Movement was realized as a response to police brutality and is intended as a way to rebuild communities across multiple cities with uplifting large-scale murals and public art by Black Artists and Artists of Color. Visual and graffiti artist Cey Adams will display his latest vivid work, Love, designed to encourage the viewer to think and see beyond the surface and engage in positive conversations about the complexity of our diverse community, while Sophia Dawson’s Standing In The Gap pays homage to the legacy of past generations and the freedoms they fought for through the use of a color bar theme and a textural ginkgo African fabric. Lastly, street artist Victor ‘Marka27’ Quinonez’s Back to the Essence, Brooklyn celebrates the African Diaspora and contemporary Afro Futurism incorporating tropical backgrounds, bold colors, and nature that are representative of motherland Africa’s flowers, plants, and native animals.

Prior to their Brooklyn installations, Street Theory installed 10 pieces of large-scale public art in Boston and New York through grassroots fundraising that engaged more than a dozen BIPOC artists, muralists, and photographers from Minneapolis, Boston, New York and Los Angeles.

This month, Adams, Dawson and “Marka27” will extend the vision they shared with the first Murals for the Movement piece, “No Weapons Formed Against Thee Shall Prosper”, which debuted at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston last Fall. Artist Cey Adams has his studio in Dumbo and this work marks his first public mural in the neighborhood.

“In many of these cities, our murals have served as backdrops during massive protests as reminders of the beauty, hope and justice that we are all striving for,” said Street Theory co-founder and Murals for the Movement creator Liza Quinonez. “The DRI goals help us to continue supporting Black Artists and Artists of Color as pivotal to the re-imagining of more diverse, multicultural, and tolerant cities, neighborhoods, and communities.”

“Murals have the unique opportunity to confront passers by. They can spark joy, awe, and meaningful conversation. We hope these works, placed on the BQE walls and below the Manhattan Bridge, are going to stop people in their tracks and are thrilled to be presenting these amazing artists at such a large scale,” said Alexandria Sica, President of the Dumbo Improvement District.

“Murals for Movement offers a new look at the experience of underrepresented artists, giving them a platform to share their stories with the greater community,” said Regina Myer, President of Downtown Brooklyn Partnership. “Building on our initiative to make Downtown a vibrant neighborhood, this mural series will encourage important conversations while bringing stunning art to our public spaces.”

Murals for the Movement is one of twelve new public art and performance projects and five accessibility upgrades to cultural venues that are taking place throughout the greater Downtown Brooklyn area as part of the Downtown Brooklyn + Dumbo Art Fund led by Downtown Brooklyn Partnership (DBP) and DUMBO Improvement District (Dumbo). The fund was one of the projects selected as part of New York State’s $10 million Downtown Brooklyn Downtown Revitalization Initiative (DRI), which seeks to connect and transform downtown neighborhoods into vibrant communities.

INSTALLATION DETAILS

An opening day walking tour to each mural will be held on November 4.
Love, by Cey Adams is located at Prospect and Adams Street
Standing In The Gap by Sophia Dawson is located at 122 Front Street.
Back to the Essence, Brooklyn by Victor ‘Marka27’ Quinonez is located at the Gold Street and Sands Street onramp.
Access to view all murals is free and open to all ages.ABOUT DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN + DUMBO ART FUND