North End mural festival is nation’s first to highlight Black artists

newvangard August 3, 2021 0

Detroit artist Sydney G. James works on a mural at the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Clay Street in Detroit on Friday, July 23, 2021 as part of the all Black produced BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival. The event, that was conceived by Detroit artist Sydney G. James, Thomas Evans (Detour303) of Denver, Colorado and Max Sansing of Chicago, will feature 24 large scale murals. – Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

The North End neighborhood will get a splash of new life this week from the inaugural BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival, which kicked off Saturday.

The weeklong event is bringing together artists from all over the country to paint 19 large-scale murals averaging 20 feet by 20 feet on buildings throughout the area. Artist talks, live painting sessions and a concluding block party are also on the agenda.

Co-founders Sydney G. James of Detroit, Thomas Evans of Denver and Max Sansing of Chicago hatched the idea after years of participating in mural festivals across the country where representation for artists of color was lacking.

“For years and years, I found I was often one of very few Black people at these events, or the only Black person,” said James. “In 2019, we had a discussion about how it’s nice to see each other when we do, but there are way more out here than just the same few people you keep seeing in different places, and we should come up with our own mural festival to showcase that Black talent. I said, ‘If we do that, Detroit’s got to be the first city.’”

The festival will travel to a different location in even-numbered years, returning to Detroit each odd-numbered summer.

“This is going to get a lot of people excited about street art,” said Evans, “and seeing a lot of the artists they’ve maybe found online or follow on TikTok or Instagram or Facebook, and seeing the process of how these artists work. Having the same thing here consistently is really going to also help grow a new crop of good Black artists, and that raises the tide for all artists in Detroit. But we want to make sure we have it in other places, too, cities like L.A., Chicago, Atlanta, maybe in Denver, to activate those artists and communities as well.

Detroit artist Sydney G. James works on a mural at the intersection of Oakland Avenue and Clay Street in Detroit on Friday, July 23, 2021 as part of the all Black produced BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival. The event, that was conceived by Detroit artist Sydney G. James, Thomas Evans (Detour303) of Denver, Colorado and Max Sansing of Chicago, will feature 24 large scale murals. Ryan Garza, Detroit Free Press

“The goal,” he said, “is making sure we bring excitement to different Black communities around the country. And, you know, hopefully we can take it beyond that, to international heights, to where we’re staging one in Nigeria or Ghana or something, and connecting Black artists across cultures. A lot of opportunities come from relationships and connecting with people firsthand rather than being in the studio and DM-ing someone on Instagram. Opening up these opportunities for other artists …that’s something I really, really want to do, and I think this festival is one of the ways we make that happen.”

The festival takes places throughout the North End community, and painting work will be ongoing. For more information, go to BLKOUTwalls.com. Social media can be tracked @blkoutwalls and at the hashtag #blkoutwalls.

BLKOUT Walls events

Sunday 

10 a.m. Painting begins

Monday 

9:30 a.m. Painting begins

Tuesday

9:30 a.m. Painting begins

7-8:30 p.m. Artist panel

Wednesday

9:30 a.m. Painting begins 

2-3 p.m. DAPCEP workshop 

Thursday

9:30 a.m. Painting begins 

Friday

9:30 a.m. Painting begins

7:30 p.m. Artist farewell dinner

Saturday

10:30 a.m.-noon Artist brunch, Hotel Indigo

Noon-6 p.m. BLKOUT Walls block party, Chroma lot, 2937 E. Grand Blvd., Detroit