CULTURE
Artist Laura Pfaff painting a mural at Skyhouse.
RESISTANCE & RENEWAL Plywood murals become symbols for a social movement by COLONY LITTLE photography by GUS SAMARCO
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his summer, downtown Raleigh buildings were awash in a sea of color. The artistic expressions were as diverse as the artists who created them. Portraits placed in conversation with text-based works mingled with punchy graphics and wildstyle graffiti. Quiet memorials communed with thought-provoking quotes. A dimensional floral installation contrasted with bold paint strokes and the softer
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touch of sidewalk chalk. The murals that bloomed throughout the city captured the spirit and energy of a movement. Though the plywood murals became a living art exhibit, their origins were fraught: through May and June, following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, North Carolina residents took to the streets in Black Lives Matter marches. The first peaceful protest was eclipsed by a group of vandals that damaged storefronts of businesses surrounding Fayetteville
