- Ray Monde
Viral murals: paintings of a pandemic.
While some of the hoarding is coming down off shopfronts around Seattle, many remain shuttered. When they first went up, the streets became bleak very quickly.
Back in March, the Alliance for Pioneer Square commissioned a bunch of artists to create striking artworks to fill the streets with colour and hope. My own works went up on Occidental Square.
Front cover feature in Pacific NW magazine.
Now the artworks have been featured in Pacific NW magazine, in the weekend edition of the Seattle Times.
Telling the story of the artists and the photography who captured their inspired and playful art.
Front cover of Pacific NW Magazine; July 19, 2020
Viral Murals: Seattle Artists, Storefront Murals, and the Power of Art During Crisis.
What started off as a simple idea, how grown and evolved. The murals have brought joy and light to the shuttered streets and now, Chatwin Press is publishing a 200+ page book documenting the transformation of the streets in these dark times.
Mural ‘Take Your Time’ by Casey Weldon; Photography by Paul Dorpat. Featured in Pacific NW Magazine.
Historic moments get lost in history.
Too often we’re focused on dealing with what’s happening right now to think about making a record of what’s happening. That’s why it’s so important for photographers like Paul Dorpat to capture what’s happening now, before it disappears.
It has been a strange year. Perhaps even stranger for me to be part of the Seattle art community, after transposing myself over here when flames were tearing through the valleys around my home.
At some point, somewhere, we’ll have a moment to take breath and reflect on what’s happened to us all. These photographs of the streets and their murals will give us something concrete and hopeful to look back on.