Community Mural Painting

Over the pandemic artists Aaron Hughes and Sarah Ross taught a year-long class through zoom with artists at Stateville. That was a difficult year for everyone, but especially for people locked up in prisons across the country. Nonetheless, once a week we zoomed into a classroom at the prison to talk about justice, public space in Chicago, current issues that young people and activists were working on and more. That year artists designed six unique mural designs to be deployed around the city of Chicago. We first teamed up with mural artist Dorian Sylvain who curated a mural show on the walls outside the DuSable Museum of African American History. Dorian met with the class and gave critiques. Three murals were created for this location. These works challenge us to break the school to prison pipeline and build a new future of resistance and love.

The murals below were designed at Stateville by artists Devon Terrell, Mike Sullivan, Elton Williams, Johnny Taylor, Juan Luna, Carlos Ayala, Rickey Quezada and Devon Daniels. All event photos were taken by Olivia Ridge.

See the Flickr links below for the process of making the murals and the community painting events.

See more of murals painted a Dusable Museum, Juneteenth Celebration, 2021. Designs of these mural are by artists Devon Terrell, Mike Sullivan, Elton Williams, Johnny Taylor and Juan Luna

See more of a mural painted in Back of the Yards, 2022. The painting occurred at Precious Blood Ministries of Reconciliation. The mural was installed on 5159 S. Morgan Ave. on a neighborhood corner store. The design of this mural is by artists Devon Terrell, Mike Sullivan, Elton Williams, Johnny Taylor and Juan Luna

See more of a mural painted in Humboldt Park, 2022. This mural is installed at 3711 W Chicago Ave. The design of this mural is by artists Aaron Barnes, Steve Martin and James Glazier.