Philadelphians are proud of their city. It is termed as their nation’s first World Heritage City. This status was conferred in appreciation of its rich historical, geographical and cultural heritage.
Besides this international honour, the city has acquired multiple monikers — the City of Brotherly Love, Birthplace of American Democracy, Cheese Steaks City and the City of Murals.
As an art-lover, I connect to the city as a city of murals, which for me, is the most enduring impression of this warm and wonderful city. The city’s multi-hued murals gaze down at us from almost every large building we pass by. They even capture your attention at every traffic light and pop up in almost every square we got off to explore.
The profusion of murals across the city allows Philadelphia to boast that it has the world’s largest outdoor art gallery. Almost every wall is a potential canvas, waiting to become an art piece. We find beautiful murals adorning building exteriors, some are even sighted on flyovers and storage-tanks. We discover that Philadelphia has almost 4,000 murals! This means the city is a veritable outdoor art museum.
It is impossible to walk a mile around the city and not sight a mural. Some places have several of these artistic creations lined up on a row. You will find them around hotels, or at well-known city landmarks like the historic Reading Terminal Market and the imposing Liberty Bell.
The walks around the city also confirms that Philadelphia is indeed a heritage-lover’s paradise as it has more buildings from the colonial and federal period preserved and protected than anywhere else in the US. Add to this, it also has the iconic Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Barnes Foundation, which are treasure-troves of art.
The murals have different themes, size and colours and each is created at different points over the past few decades. The artists are also a diverse group of people belonging to different communities adding to its variety in depiction. Representations of birds, animals, buildings — including city landmarks, human beings (faces as well as full-length figures) — flowers, fruits, plants, insects, vehicles, etc., figure in the murals. Some works are titled, some are not and some had abstract art too, leaving us to come up with our own interpretations.
The murals, which adorn the city, are created and maintained by a non-profit organisation called the City of Philadelphia Mural Arts Program, which began in the ’80s.
It was started as a way of dealing with problems of graffiti and the “lawlessness that was prevalent in the city at that time”. The organisation began as the Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network or PAGN at the urging of the then Mayor W Wilson Goode. The founder and director of the Mural Arts Program is Jane Golden.
And thus began the story murals and still stay on as a way of healing the city, besides giving it an aesthetic appearance. The guiding belief of this programme is simple and beautiful — art ignites change. It is USA’s largest public arts programme.
The number of murals is growing every year.
In fact, Mural Arts creates between 50 to 100 public art projects annually in direct collaboration with over 10,000 individuals. Also that, approximately 1,000 young people are enrolled in Mural Arts’ Art Education Program annually.
How Philly Moves is the city’s largest mural, measuring nearly 85,000 square feet and it extends along a parking garage at the Philadelphia International Airport. It is also said to be the world’s second largest mural. One of the most iconic murals of the city is considered to be the eight-stories-high Common Threads.
There are different ways to view these art works. You can explore them on your own or be a part of customised tours, which are aplenty. Another option is a trolley tour or Philly By Segway, which takes you on a guided tour via a segway.
Then there is the Mural Mile Walking Tour, which comes with an abridged version called Abridged Tour for those who have “less time or stamina”.
As one wonders about the average cost to produce a mural is we are handed a brochure which claims “$25,000 to $30,000. The most expensive mural the program has created is Philly Painting, at $500,000. Designed by Dutch artists Haas & Hahn, Philly Painting spans four blocks of Germantown Avenue, weaving a geometric design of abstract colour across more that 50 adjacent store fronts.”
The outdoor art gallery of Philadelphia flourishes with the cooperation of the government, city residents, especially the artists, and local businesses, all of whom contribute in their own way.
