From St. Louis to Louisville Healing Walls Collaboration

Elizabeth Vega, Artivists STL, Ashley Cathey, Jelani Brown, Kris Mosby

The healing wall is a collaborative mural project between St. Louis and Louisville Artivists, which emerged directly from the deaths of Mike Brown and Breonna Taylor. In April 2020, artist activists from the two cities began working together on creative direct action.  The art created from their collaboration gave meaning to shared suffering. The goal with this project is to expand the reach of artists in the movement for collective healing. Artivists STL will join the Louisville Healing Wall initiative to use mural art as a way to build deeper relationships in regional movements and to showcase Black and Brown artists.

Murals created by local BIPOC artists in collaboration with Louisville artist Ashley Cathey will be installed in three locations: two on the northside and one on the southside of St. Louis. The art will be curated by Jelanie Brown, Kris Mosby and Ashley Cathey. The murals will change every three months and will serve as an ongoing public-facing exhibit that amplifies the voices, resilience and iconography of communities too often silenced by racism and systems of oppression. Each mural completed in collaboration with ArtHouse and Artivists Stl will be celebrated with an opening of music, poetry, and community to cultivate connection, expression, and healing.

Photos of first community mural at Arthouse St. Louis, November 2020