The Sun (UK) Features Thrive x BLM Mural
‘COLLECTIVE TRAUMA’ NYC artists work on Black Lives Matter mural in Manhattan for ‘art therapy’ during Floyd protests
Fionnuala O’Leary, News Reporter
Manhattan 3 Jul 2020
… But elsewhere, the atmosphere was relaxed this afternoon as artists worked on another enormous mural in downtown Manhattan, after weeks of civil unrest.
Jon Souza of Thrive Collective, a local organization, was one of the artists working on the sizable project, which he said will be completed by tomorrow, July 3.
The slogan is painted on the street outside the courthouse, near the New York City Police Department (NYPD) headquarters, where just two days ago, a violent clash between protesters and cops ensued at One Police Plaza.
Souza explained that each artist or group was assigned a letter to work on and design together, while the demonstrations continued around the city.
Regarding Trump’s Twitter statements about the murals being a “symbol of hate”, Souza said that “you have to take it with a grain of salt.”
“I think what’s happening now there might be some differences of opinion,” he told The Sun. “Now, this is what everybody needs: we all need our own form of art therapy.
“After coronavirus, we’ve all kind of gone through our own collective trauma, I think that art is one of the best ways to heal, to bring people together.”
Souza said these larger-than-life messages are a way to get a dialogue going about recent events and “not just putting an opinion out to argue.”
He said people who come to peaceful protests to agitate or cause trouble aren’t getting the message behind the anti-racism movement.
“Those people that were like looting or spray painting some stuff that was disconnecting, the graffiti community immediately disconnected from that,” he said, gesturing towards the artwork being done.
“This is an example of graff artists that are really trying to take it seriously and make sure that their message is done well, you know.”
When it came to defunding the NYPD, Souza felt it was important to look at the way the city budget is allocated and how taxes are used to represent people as a whole. …
For artists like Souza, the mural and movement is not about denigrating the police, he said.
“I see here some of the conversations about the way that they can put [those] resources into other things, such as mental health, education, investing in communities,” Souza explained, as his art group worked on the letter “A” in the afternoon heat.
“That’s going to be the best way to open up the conversation so it doesn’t come off as being like you know ‘we hate the police.’
“Because if you’re going to do that then it’s always going to be a disagreement, but if you say ‘well actually, how do we make sure that everybody is getting what they need?’ then I don’t think anybody can argue about that.”
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