The Magic of Murals
Photo by Amanda Seale
Take a walk, a bike ride, or a drive around Knoxville and it is impossible not to notice one of the most significant changes to the city’s landscape – the murals. In the past ten years or so, murals have popped up seemingly everywhere. In Knoxville, murals cover the sides of buildings, basketball courts, underpasses, and staircases, often depicting the city’s history and natural environment, and of course, everyone’s favorite local icon – Dolly Parton.
Part of Keep Knoxville Beautiful’s mission is beautification, and that often comes in the form of creating and painting murals. In fact, we just unveiled a brand new mural at the corner of Sutherland Avenue and Concord Street. Created by Megan Lingerfelt, the mural is a burst of thick greenery and dappled sunlight with the neighborhood’s name “Marble City” woven into the leaves. The mural is a beautiful testament to both the city’s history and its natural surroundings: the pink of “Marble City” is a reference to Tennessee pink marble, and the lush greenery is a reference to the nearby Third Creek Greenway. The mural is a burst of color and life, and it is much needed. Despite the proximity to Third Creek Greenway, the section of Sutherland Avenue is primarily industry, which makes it seem especially colorless. This new Marble City Mural will bring much-needed vibrancy to this derelict stretch of road.
COMMUNITY CELEBRATION
That is part of the transforming power of murals – they create colorful spaces in otherwise desolate settings. They transform bare walls into intricate and exciting works of art that locals can be proud of and tourists can seek out. Would Strong Alley in Market Square be nearly as well trafficked if not for the alluring and eclectic mix of murals that cover its walls? An otherwise nondescript alley has become a top tourist spot in Knoxville.
Photo by Amanda Seale
As well, murals show investment into a community or neighborhood. Murals can help residents discover places they might not have otherwise visited, such as businesses or restaurants. A mural is an attractive incentive to stop and see what is there, because the mural is usually just one part of what a neighborhood has to offer. Murals are a foothold into the community at large by drawing our attention and piquing our curiosity.
Not only do murals improve the community that they cover, but they are also a reflection of who we are as a community. Wendy Altschuler of Forbes Magazine writes that “a traveler who seeks out street murals will be rewarded with insights into a city’s social, cultural, or political dynamics as well as the artistic aesthetics of a particular neighborhood.” Our city’s murals often possess characteristics distinct to Knoxville; a mural with mountains, Dolly Parton, and an orange Power T would be unmistakably Knoxville. In any other city, that combination would not hold the same significance.
Beyond football and country music, murals in Knoxville specifically embrace environmental themes, paying homage to the rich landscape of the Smokies whether that be through depictions of the mountains themselves or the vast number of wildlife that claim the mountains as their home. Just as the Marble City Mural draws inspiration from the nearby Third Creek Greenway, many other murals around Knoxville incorporate their natural surroundings. In an area so environmentally rich, it would be almost impossible not to have the area’s art reflect its natural surroundings.
CRUCIAL COMMENTARY
Murals add beauty and a sense of pride to a community, but they also can function as sharp commentary, especially on climate change. Widening the scope to international artists, climate change often plays a prevalent role in street art. Specifically Banksy, the pseudonym for arguably the world’s most famous street artist, often provides scathing commentary through their art.
Photo from Banksy
In December 2018, a Banksy mural called Season’s Greetings appeared in Wales. The painting covers two sides of a wall – one side shows a young child catching snowflakes on their tongue, while the other side reveals that the snowflakes are actually ash from a burning dumpster. The piece creates a visual trick by first presenting a child playing openly, before revealing the disturbing reality. It is meant to trick us, but there is another crucial message to this piece. The prevalence of pollution is overwhelming and inescapable. For this child, the reality of pollution is so pervasive that the difference between ash and snow is indistinguishable. The child naively plays in the ash, unaware of the impact it might have on their health or the environment. The effects of climate change and pollution surround us constantly, so much so that we either don’t even notice anymore or actively choose not to.
Photo from Street Art News
Natalia Rak’s Let’s Keep the Plants Alive in Poland depicts a young girl holding an empty watering can over a real tree at the base of the building. The larger than life mural makes it inescapable to the viewer’s attention. In a society where 15 billion trees are cut down annually, the young girl’s futile effort to water this tree is a poignant reminder that these resources are rapidly disappearing. Instead of caring for them, we are discarding them readily in the name of industry and development. The mural asks us to stop and consider the value in keeping the trees and the plants alive.
Knoxville murals might not always contain such blatant commentary (although if Banksy ever wants to do a mural in Knoxville – I am happy to help scout locations!), but they do offer commentary in their own way. By actively celebrating the environment through their murals, Knoxville muralists focus attention on how incredibly intertwined nature is with Knoxville’s identity. The Smoky Mountains, dogwood trees, the Tennessee River, the synchronous fireflies are all defining characteristics of who Knoxville is, and they are all reflected in its murals. By celebrating the environment, these murals also remind us that we must also care for it. The koi painted at Jerry’s Artarama or the bees and pollinator flowers at Dreambikes remind us that Knoxville is home to a diverse number of creatures. The Marble City Mural shows us that even in a predominantly industrial area, Knoxvillians are never far from an environmental oasis. Our murals provide the crucial commentary in a subtle way, while first and foremost celebrating the beauty all around us.
The next time you are out walking, biking, or driving, and you pass a mural, stop and think about how it reflects Knoxville’s character. How does it show what is important to us? (And I don’t just mean Dolly and Tennessee football!) What matters to us as a city, and how do we show that in the art that covers our city’s walls? Oh and of course – go check out the Marble City Mural on Sutherland and Concord!