Month: August 2022

Imagine it’s 2005 and you’re riding through the streets of Tampa in an unmarked rental van, just you and Shepard Fairey. Your only task is to help one of the greatest street artists of all time plaster the city with posters in preparation for an upcoming exhibition exploring contemporary art and street culture. He asks if you want to post any of your art alongside his and when he sees your sticker design he likes it and encourages you to continue putting it up. 

When Shepard Fairey thinks it’s a good idea, you pay attention. 

That was the beginning of the READ Movement, a positive social messaging campaign designed to promote the love of education and literacy, one impression at a time. By using a model that Shepard Fairey perfected with his OBEY image, READ uses the streets to positively disrupt the everyday bombardment of capitalist messaging. Since that serendipitous day with Fairey, thousands of READ stickers and posters have been found the world over; from New York City to Greece to India and beyond. 

Although the READ symbol has evolved over time, its cornerstone, the blind-folded female bust with butterfly wings, has remained consistent. Each piece of the design is significant. The butterfly wings represent the transformation made possible through reading– the opportunity to expand one’s mind, understand new concepts, explore other realities, or to simply get lost in an imaginary world. The figure is female as a respectful nod to the artist’s mom, a strong single mother who encouraged Jay’s love for literature at a young age. Lastly, the bust is blind folded, symbolizing our culture’s collective lack of attention– lack of attention to one another, to written or visual communication, lack of concern for much of anything beyond the cell phones in our hands. The blinded woman serves to create a startling, thought provoking image when passed unexpectedly in the street. Over her eyes, the bold capital letters spelling READ speak for themselves. The design is iconically simple and yet perfectly complex.

There have been a number of studies validating that neighborhood disorder and decay (characterized by graffiti, abandoned buildings, litter, public drunkenness, etc.) is directly linked to a higher risk of psychological distress, depression, substance use, post traumatic stress disorder and feelings of powerlessness1. Additional studies have sought to uncover whether or not murals have an impact on neighborhood disorder and decay. Obviously, substantial solutions to neighborhood disorder are complex and require more resources than an art program alone can solve. But understanding the connection between murals and neighborhood wellbeing is certainly helpful and can assist with other efforts to increase the health and safety of residents. 

In 2015, Yale University published its findings about the impact of the Philadelphia Mural Arts’ Porch Light Program, which seeks to transform neighborhoods through mural art. The four-year study found that “after almost two years, residents living within one mile of more than one newly installed mural reported: 

• A sustained relative increase in collective efficacy, including social cohesion and trust among neighbors as well as informal neighborhood social control. 
• A modest but sustained relative increase in perceptions of neighborhood aesthetic quality, including the quality of the walking environment and perceived neighborhood safety.2 ”

The study doesn’t provide substantial evidence about why murals create an increase in collective efficacy or trust among neighbors but there is certainly plenty of informal evidence that supports the theory that “murals stimulate narratives of cultural and community connection, beauty, resilience, and hope. Such narratives may stand in contrast with prevailing narratives of neighborhood decay and disorder, and thus inspire residents to appreciate their neighborhood’s aesthetic qualities, foster a sense of cohesion with other neighbors, and nurture a belief that residents look out for one another. “ 

The study suggests that ultimately, the power of mural art lies in its ability to be a catalyst for social change. The beautification of a mural in a neighborhood creates a sense of agency for individual community members, as opposed to the powerlessness that follows disorder and decay. 

There are many places in Tampa Bay that invite one to pause and truly appreciate the beauty and brilliance of our surroundings. In fact, Tampa is one of the fastest-growing cities in the United States because the secret is out about the weather, beaches, culture, lack of state taxes, and relative affordability. Frighteningly though, the city has consistently ranked as one of the most dangerous places for pedestrians, cyclists, and drivers. 

To combat this, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor has adopted the Vision Zero plan, aimed at achieving a shared goal of zero traffic fatalities or severe injuries. Originating in Europe, Vision Zero is innovative in that it embraces a cross-disciplinary collaborative approach to road safety. By engaging local traffic planners, engineers, policymakers, public health professionals and artists, Vision Zero acknowledges that many factors influence safe mobility. It also recognizes that people make mistakes but with smart design and adaptive policies, those mistakes don’t need to be fatal. 

Through the Vision Zero initiative, Mayor Castor launched the Crosswalks to Classrooms project with Greater Public Studio, led by artist Jay Giroux. Greater Public Studio (formerly Giroux Projects) designed a variety of custom graphics based on classic children’s literature like Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, The Great Kapok Tree and Moby Dick, among others. The graphics were made into custom stencils and used to paint crosswalks leading to nine elementary schools across Tampa. By incorporating stencils, each crosswalk is uniform and can be completed during a single school day. A slightly muted color palette is used to add vibrancy without competing with roadway traffic signals. Durable outdoor acrylic paint with slip resistant additives ensure longevity for the ground murals while abiding by transportation regulations. In addition to celebrating the joy of classic literature, the hope is that drawing attention to the crosswalks will cause motorists to slow down, potentially saving a child’s life. 

A recently released study from the Bloomberg Foundation details the impact of asphalt art on safe mobility. The nationwide study analyzed crash histories at seventeen sites with asphalt art.  Additionally, it studied driver and pedestrian behavior in real time at five different asphalt art sites. The results found, on average, the rate of car crashes involving pedestrians or cyclists decreased by 50% when art was applied to the roadway. Furthermore, the rate of drivers yielding to pedestrians increased by 27%. Those are staggering results when considering Tampa averages 200 traffic related fatalities per year. Imagine the impact of more art in public spaces. 

The Living Shades mural project is a dynamic homage to Ybor City. Located at Hillsborough Community College’s Ybor campus, Living Shades is one part of NEST, a multi-campus public art initiative that’s transforming sections of HCC Dale Mabry and Ybor into socially activated green spaces. Truly encapsulating the spirit of collaboration, the design was created by Greater Public Studio’s Jay Giroux and Tampa artist Edgar Sanchez Cumbas, as a tribute to three specific Ybor artists while also featuring artwork from an HCC student. By combining elements of drawing, photography, printmaking and painting, the mural honors Suzanne Camp Crosby (1948-2020), Carolyn Kossar (1949-2020), and Theo Wujcik (1936-2014). 

Delving deeper into the significance of these Ybor based artists, we can better appreciate the subtle nods to their work found in the mural. Suzanne Camp Crosby, a respected photographer, was a professor of photography at HCC for 38 years until her passing in 2020. Her playful work, often characterized by unexpected objects added to everyday scenes, is referenced in the use of positive and negative space throughout the mural. Additionally, the overall composition of the design was influenced by Camp Crosby’s work. 

Carolyn Kossar was the Art Gallery Director at HCC Ybor for 19 years until her passing in 2020. She was also an artist in her own right, specializing in printmaking. Some of the subject matter found throughout the hexagonal shapes are references to Kossar’s work, specifically some of the floral elements. 

The late Theo Wujcik was one of Tampa’s best known 20th century artists. Eclectic and experimental, Wujcik’s primary mediums were drawing, printmaking and painting. In the 1980’s, he discovered what became his signature motif, the chain-link fence. The Living Shades mural mimics Wujcik’s use of the chain-link fence as a means of communicating story, imagery, and various ideas through a single structural device. 

One of the images portrayed in the mural is a portrait of José Martí, known as “The Apostle of Cuban Independence.” Selected from several student submissions, this image drawn by HCC student Thinh Nguyen depicts the important relationship between Ybor City and Cuba. Martí and many other Cubans lived in Tampa to escape the injustices of Spanish rule. Remaining close enough to the island to nurture connections but far enough away to plot a revolution, Martí eventually sparked the insurrection that would lead to Cuba’s independence in 1902. To this day, Ybor City is rich in Cuban cultural influence and is home to one of the only Cuban owned pieces of land in the United States, appropriately named José Martí Park. The only other Cuban owned land in the US is the Cuban Embassy in Washington, DC.