Creative Generation in: Little Rock, Arkansas

The Collective that makes up Creative Generation consists of artists, educators, makers, and thinkers from around the world. In this series, we’ve decided to highlight inspiring work that’s happening in the cities in which our collective members live. In this blog, Director of Communications Katie Rainey writes about the 7th Street Mural Project in Little Rock, Arkansas that grew exponentially after the murder of George Floyd and how one of those artists is changing the way folks in the city view street art. 

By Katie (m.k.) Rainey

We were reading Citizen by Claudia Rankine when the pandemic happened. I’d taught the book in my 9th grade class at the Young Women’s Leadership School of Jamaica, Queens for a few years already and had been searching for new ways to branch out, bring in other artists and writers for my students to experience when suddenly the world shut down and curriculums everywhere shifted from experiential, learning settings to the virtual where (at best) only half my students ever turned their cameras on. My lessons went from the power of art-making to art as a way to process trauma, our classroom a place for my students to process this new world. And then the world does as it does, it waits for no one, and on May 25th, 2020 George Floyd was murdered by white officers and my students—mostly women of color and LGBTQIA+—were traumatized all over again.  

Class happened to fall on the day after and not a zoom camera came on. However, the fear, sorrow, and anger was palpable even in this blank, digital space. I started class how I’d started the previous two months: by asking my students exactly how they wanted to spend the day together. For the previous two months, we’d mostly used our class time to talk, occasionally journaling a little, writing a little poetry. But overall, my kids wanted to talk through their feelings. Today, however, something shifted. I got a unanimous response: my students wanted to take action. Many of them desperately wanted to be out in the protests, but as they were mostly 13-14 year olds and the pandemic was still raging, it wasn’t safe for them in any capacity to participate. 

Instead, we turned to art. 

The 7th Street Mural Project

We began on our own, navigating these feelings through poetic tools we’d already experimented with in class. But, as artists do, I began to see more and more artists around the world responding to the murder of George Floyd through their craft. And I was particularly inspired by a project forming in my own little corner of the world: Little Rock, Arkansas. 

The 7th Street Mural Project actually began in 2015 as a part of Arkansas Peace Week. However, with the rise of worldwide protests, 7th street became a central place for Black Lives Matter protests and a place to process grief through art-making.  

Local artists populated the concrete walls surrounding 7th street with images that provoked introspection, bright bursts of color convening pain and anger. The street filled with protestors, both longtime activists and new allies. One of these activists and members of the local muralist scene happened to be my friend, Jermaine Gibson aka EATS ONE. 

Jermaine and I met years and years ago, honestly I’m not exactly sure when. He’s become quite a well known artist in town since and when I saw the movement growing around 7th street, I found that Jermaine and fellow muralist José Hernández had painted a large, earthly green and blue image of George Floyd on the wall.  

Credit Michael Hibblen / KUAR News / KUAR News

The image, still there to this day, takes your breath away with both its beauty and the sorrow it conveys. 

“We instantly knew that we needed to paint and that we needed to have George Floyd’s face on that wall,” Gibson says. “We were both feeling stressed the f— out about this whole situation, especially because I knew that could be me in Little Rock. Anyone could be George Floyd in any city for any reason.”—Jermaine Gibson speaking to Arkansas Soul

Jermaine and his fellow muralists’ drive to react instantly, artistically and powerfully was something I knew my students would want to experience. I brought images of the mural and the others growing steadily around it to my students and immediately I could see how empowered it made them feel. Here were a group of real life artists taking action and having a big impact on their community. It inspired us to get to work, and we did.

The finished mural of George Floyd created by Jose Hernandez and Jermaine Gibson on Seventh Street in Little Rock. (Arkansas Democrat-Gazette/Sean Clancy)

Protest Poetry

Unfortunately, as much as my students might have liked to create murals on their streets, that particular action wasn’t accessible to them. So we turned to what we had access to and made protest poetry. The words my students wrote were devastating, empowering, awe-inspiring, and about a thousand other adjectives all at once. Instead of telling you how powerful these poems were, here’s one you can see for yourself:

“It ends with us” by Justein

I’m not saying all lives don’t matter
I’m just saying my life matters
they don’t see danger when they see you
they do when they look at my brother
It never ended with my ancestors
but it will end with us
It never stopped with Rosa on the bus
but it will with us
An innocent man shot down,
yet you expect us to smile and be happy like clowns
How many more tears should we shed
when another black man is shot dead
How many mothers will cry
cause her son had to die?
Your son died, but why?
Is it because his nose isn’t straight
or the thick curls in his hair?
Is it the color of his skin
or that his lips aren’t that thin?
Do we only have to look like you
to actually fit in?
Do I have to look like you so I can live?
Why do you kill us for being bold and loving
the way we were built?
I’m not saying All Lives Don’t Matter, I’m just saying
Black People Are Killed!
Killed because of the way we were built
Trayvon, Philandro, Michael, Eric, and now George
How many more hashtags do you need
to feel our pain?
We cry today, then you spew hate like rain
No peace, no justice until you stop this
Stop killing us because you wish we didn’t exist
It didn’t end at Selma, but it will with us!

The murals on 7th street are still there and still thriving, drawing in more and more people to participate each year. I took this quick video driving through the other day, just to show you how long the walls extend now. 

Artists like Jermaine make teaching so much richer, they make the work we do in class so much more meaningful, so much more real. And I feel grateful that everyday I get to drive/run by such beautiful artwork that has inspired and empowered so many others. 

Photos courtesy of Jermaine Gibson aka EATS ONE.