The inaugural BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival was held July 24 – 31, 2021, in Detroit’s North End community. On today’s blog post, I’m sharing photographs from my time visiting the mural festival and the beautiful Detroit murals!
Did you attend the BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival?
The inaugural event took place July 24th through the 31st in the North End, Detroit community. I attended the festival a few times throughout the week, and it was a cool experience to get a behind-the-scenes look at how the artists create their art.
These new Detroit murals are a must-see so if you haven’t seen them yet or if you’re a planning a visit to the D, make sure you check them out.
Bring your camera and be prepared to take a lot of pictures because the mural art is stunning.
I even brought the kids along on one of the festival days so they could see how the artists design and paint their murals.
Although it was really hot out, they said they enjoyed seeing the art and watching a few of the artists paint.
(And then they announced, “It’s time for ice cream, Mom!” Haha! ๐ So we stopped by Buddy’s Pizza for lunch and got some ice cream at Detroit Water Ice Factory for a cool treat.)
WHAT IS BLKOUT WALLS MURAL FESTIVAL?
Co-founded by artists Sydney G. James, Max Sansing, and Thomas “Detour 303” Evans, BLKOUT Walls was a beautiful celebration of art, community, and culture.
The mural festival was created to give BIPOC artists an opportunity to share their art and stories.
After participating in other mural festivals and seeing the lack of racial diversity in some of the festivals, the three artists decided it was time for a change.
“This mural festival is important because Black artists are often not represented enough in many spaces,” Sydney explained to me.
It was the first day of the event and I stopped by Sydney’s first mural to learn more about the festival. She was working on a mural portrait of community leader Yolanda Williams.
“The art world itself is racist– more sexist than racist, but definitely racist,” she continued. “But even in the street art world it’s kind of problematic. Oftentimes we’re in these spaces, like mural festivals, and we’re either the only Black person present, only Black artist present, or one of maybe three.”
BLKOUT WALLS: THE FORMATION
In 2019, while in Denver, Colorado (also where Thomas “Detour” Evans is from), Sydney, Max, and Detour discussed how disheartening it was to not see more minority artists featured in mural festivals.
“We started talking about the dope artists that we never see in festivals but we know exist in the world,” Sydney said.
They decided to kick off BLKOUT Walls in Detroit. Sydney connected with colleagues and friends, like award-winning author and Kresge Literary Arts fellow Jean Elster, to help with the festival’s grant proposal and brand sponsorships.
Mrs. Elster helped Sydney with writing the grant proposal and they submitted it to the Knight Foundation, one of the primary sponsors for BLKOUT Walls.
Sydney then reached out to brands, such as the skateboarding clothing and shoes company Vans, whom she had been working with for the past year and a half.
The Detroit Pistons was also another big sponsor for the mural festival. (You can read the complete list of the festival’s sponsors here if you like.)
“I think the people were ready,” she said. “I think we all were ready. And it’s time.”
BLKOUT WALLS: REPRESENTATION MATTERS
BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival featured 75% of BlPOC artists and event producers. According to the official organization, this is important because it is a reflection of Detroit’s demographics.
It also helps create “a cohort of artists representing equity and inclusion.”
“It’s important for us to be represented in art and not just art of a memorial,” Sydney said. She said one of the biggest misconceptions some people have about Black muralists is that they only paint murals to memorialize loved ones or important figures who have passed away.
“Our art extends beyond that. We do exist professionally in this world, and we’re planning on opening a door–,” she paused briefly and rephrased her thought:
“Actually, not even creating a door. Creating space so [the door] never closes behind us. There is no closing. It’s always open.”
“We’re…creating space so [the door] never closes behind us. There is no closing. It’s always open.”
Sydney G. James, Detroit artist and co-founder of BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival
On the first day of the festival, I connected with Max Sansing, one of the co-founders of BLKOUT Walls. I was standing on the sidewalk across the street from his mural taking photographs when he crossed the street to take a look at his progress.
He greeted me, and as he was taking mental notes of his work, we talked a little bit about his artwork (he told me he was freehanding his mural!) and about the incredible changes the city of Detroit has made so far.
And then I discovered we had something in common: we both used to teach!
Soon, he went back across the street to finish painting and I thanked him for his time.
On the last day of the festival, I returned to Oakland Avenue to Isee Max’s and ProBlak‘s murals. We had just left the Block Party and I wanted to get a photo before the sunset.
That little sunburst shinging brightly on the right side of the building was perfect.
WHY DETROIT WAS SELECTED AS THE CITY TO KICK OFF BLKOUT WALLS MURAL FESTIVAL
During the Artist Panel discussion, Sydney shared why Detroit was chosen as the city to kick off the mural festival.
“It had to be Detroit first because it only makes sense. Detroit is the city that taught Black people how to strut in their Blackness– all over the world. Not just this country.
We’re a product of the Great Migration. It was more of us that came up here than anywhere else. We’re blue-collar so we had the money. We had, later, the homes.
So we strut. We’re confident. We got the blue-collar. We got the work ethic. We have the ingenuity, and it’s still here.”
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO SHARE BLACK STORIES AND STORIES OF PEOPLE OF COLOR?
I asked Sydney why she felt it was important to share Black stories and stories of people of color and here’s what she said:
“It’s important because we are charged with telling our own stories. We know how it goes when other people take advantage of telling our stories. Because they think that they tell our stories better than us.
It’s important for us to tell our own so everybody that comes up after us knows the truth and knows our truth. And know that we’re more than just RIPs… We’re just more. We’re more than anything.
And all kids need, as far as access, is just to see somebody who looks like them doing it , and then they know, ‘Oh, I can do that!’
All it takes is a seed. We need to plant as many positive seeds [as we can].
It’s not even just Black kids. Even young white kids. Or poor kids– period. Underserved people– period. This is inspirational to everyone because that’s the real reality. That’s the real truth.
If Black women specially come up– everybody will come up.
But if Black people come up, same philosophy– everybody will come up.”
I hope my kids will always remember moments like this. It was exciting to bring them along to see some of the artists painting their murals.
When we stopped by Marka27‘s J. Dilla tribute mural, one of the boys asked me, “How’d he get up so high, Mommy?!”
When I first wrote this post, it was back in late summer (2021). I had taken so many photographs that I wasn’t sure if I should post them all or not.
But after taking some time to think about how I really wanted to create my blog post, I decided to share all of the photos I took of the murals.
One of the biggest themes of BLKOUT Walls Mural festival is the importance of sharing stories from African Americans and people of color.
So how could I just select a few mural photos and not share all of them? All of the artwork was phenomenal and needs to be seen.
(Plus, I really love all of the amazing Detroit murals I got to see.)
There are a few that I wasn’t able to find. But when I do find them, I will add my updated photos to this post!
“Whoever controls the images, controls the stories. That’s why it’s important for us to do what we do because if we’re controlling the images, we control our own narratives. So again, it had to be Detroit because we are American Black History.”
Sydney G. James, Artist and co-founder of BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival
BLKOUT WALLS: COMMUNITY FIRST
What made BLKOUT Walls stand out the most to me?
Of course, all of the beautiful art is number one! But something else that stood out to me was how involved the North End community was with the festival.
Community was a resounding theme for BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival, and it was important to Sydney that the festival was open to everyone.
It’s just like she said: “We’re…creating space so [the door] never closes behind us. There is no closing. It’s always open.”
This was my second time visiting the North End community. My first time visiting was in 2017 when I was pregnant with Zephaniah. Travis and I took Zhen and Zechariah to North End’s summer farmer’s market.
We had only been living in Michigan for about two years so I didn’t know too much about the neighborhood (or any Detroit neighborhood or suburb) at the time.
And it’s for this reason that I’m thankful for the BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival because it gave me the opportunity to learn more about North End and its rich history.
Plus, I got to connect with some pretty amazing people and catch up with old friends who I hadn’t seen in a while because of the pandemic.
The neighbors I met were very welcoming, like Pastor Eunice who greeted the kids and me when we were out admiring the art. (She even invited us to the church cookout.)
And Zhen made a few new friends at the Block Party.
As our interview came to an end, I asked Sydney, “What do you hope visitors will take away from the mural festival?”
She replied, “That we’re here, and that we’re not going anywhere.”
Do you have any favorite murals from the festival?
Also, you may like to read this post featuring over 35 Detroit murals: “My Favorite Detroit Murals.”
Special thanks to Sydney G. James for taking the time to do an interview with me!
Follow BLKOUT Walls Mural Festival on Instagram here and visit the official website for the latest updates. Click here for a map of the murals.
PHOTO CREDIT NOTE: All photographs are by Jennifer Hamra for Good Life Detroit.
You may use my photos of the murals to share on your site, but please provide the following credit: Good Life Detroit and a link back to this post.
If sharing on social media, please tag me at goodlifedetroit on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, and/or Twitter. For further information, you can email me at jennifer@goodlifedetroit.com. Thank you! ๐
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