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Downtown's Protest Art Paints Collective Picture Of Social Justice

Credit Julia Meek
Classic symbol of justice portrayed on a storefront along Calhoun Street.

The wrongful death of George Floyd has sparked a call for social justice heard nation wide and here in Fort Wayne protestors continue to add their voices to the conversation.

As the community works to find an effective means of addressing the issue, one message coming in loud and clear is the power of protest art.

Credit Julia Meek
The language of peace displayed prominently on the window protectors at Jimmy John's.

Creative friends of the Alyssum Montessori School were the first to turn the vandalism that occured on Friday, May 29th to its building at 916 South Calhoun Street into a platform for such commentary, applying their boldly colored statements directly onto the plywood used to cover its broken windows.

By the following weekend  a crew of artists from Wunderkammer Company arrived to spread the message of peace, quite literally, across the protective plywood sheeting installed on storefronts of Jimmy John's and Creative Women of the World.

The rest of that weekend would see a steady stream of painters adding energy and artistry to the street scene with an equally enthusiastic crowd to watch their progress.

Credit Julia Meek

All totaled, more than one hundred artists have come together to date and produced over forty murals in the heart of the city. This is the story they tell.

A Fort Wayne native, Julia is a radio host, graphic artist, and community volunteer, who has contributed to NIPR both on- and off-air for forty years. Besides being WBOI's arts & culture reporter, she currently co-produces and hosts Folktales and Meet the Music.