[Traffic Noise] >> It was the largest demonstration seen in a generation.

>> Outrage over police killings of Black people has fueled unrest from coast to coast.

>> Tens of thousands took to the street.

>> Black lives matter.

Black lives matter.

♪ [Music] >> When George Floyd was murdered, you know, the country was turned upside down.

My feelings were torn because this wasn't any different.

♪ [Music] >> When a Black person is slain by the police in this country, especially before George Floyd, there is this counter story that comes out that says, oh, well, that person was not a good person anyway.

And it's dismissed.

It's literally dismissed.

And I couldn't understand why an eight minute video tape changed the way people thought about that.

[Car Noise] ♪ [Music] >> I can remember feeling dazed and confused because of that time.

>> Black lives matter.

Black lives matter.

[Horns blaring] >> At the end of the day being born Black is a crime to them.

And I don't understand why, because we're all humans.

>> I was in a school doing a mural and I called Matt and I can remember Matt asked me, man, how are you?

You doing alright?

And I was just like, no, I'm not doing alright.

>> At that point in that conversation the protests had bubbled up about it and it was kind of widespread protests like and lots of cities and I can speak for me, I always thought that there was, by the time the news had gotten to me the waters were muddied.

But this time me and all the other White people that were upset saw it happen.

And then hearing from you that this was just another instance of this happening you were seeing it the way you had seen all the other ones had happened, and that was a big surprise to me.

And it did snap me out of this, you know, this fog.

For an instant I saw the way that you saw it.

♪ [Music] >> That was something that I had never heard before.

And for me to experience that with a friend of mine made me think about, wait, hold on, this conversation literally just changed my mood about why, you know, why we're in this space in time right now and it made me want to actually go do something positive.

♪ [Music] >> Maybe getting together a project that put artists together from different backgrounds to collaborate on public art projects and getting them to be like a microcosm of what society needs to do right now.

>> Hamilton called me, he started talking about this idea of we need to talk.

Right?

We need to talk.

We need to talk now.

I was like, yeah, and we need to listen.

The way he saw it was if he could bring artists from different communities or different points of view to collaborate a specific piece and then create a conversation around those pieces it could have a positive effect or maybe it wasn't even about a positive effect, it was more about just starting the conversation in the community.

>> I thought that that was the best way that I could help.

I thought that conversation I had with Matt was something that would be a starter for other people to actually then go on and have deeper conversations that could lead to action and beyond.

I know that I could reach a mass of people with art in doing that.

And so why not?

♪ [Music] >> The June-teenth installation with the "we need to talk" stencils in downtown Richmond and having all of those artists show up to start the Mending Walls project was probably the first times I thought this is really what's happening.

>> This is the place to start a conversation.

And the way of doing it a little bit more inviting for everybody is to do it creatively.

♪ [Music] >> Hamilton was really the right person to bring this project together, I think, because of his history.

He was in this magic spot that I think was the catalyst for it just all falling into place.

♪ [Music] >> We are about to kick off.

If you guys saw the post yesterday, Mending Walls, the exhibit, is happening at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture.

It kicked off today.

Jowarnise and Ian Hess are doing their own live wall in the museum.

Their wall will be the first Mending Wall.

The plan is to actually do a Mending Wall a week.

But I'm working diligently to try to schedule all of them.

[Noise] >> That one's in the History Museum.

And then every week after that one starts.

So it's like boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.

>> [Inaudible] >> Thanks, man.

I'm going to need it.

[Laughs] >> Four weeks ago there was no Mending Walls.

Now it's like we're about to kick off a 16 mural tour.

♪ [Music] >> We need to talk, we need to listen, and we need to emphasize and connect.

♪ [Music] >> Noah?

Just wanted to call you to see if you need something specific from the Tool Bank.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I have the paint.

I have the spray paint.

I have some extensions.

I have some rollers, some brushes.

>> [Inaudible] >> Let's take two of those.

>> I wanted the artists to really think about what the other had experienced.

Understanding that this person is seeing it this way, because they grew up different from me.

This was a totally different experience.

And I think that eye opening conversation with Matt is how I wanted all of those artists to feel after those conversations with one another.

>> After our conversation I started thinking about the fact that we have daughters are almost the same age and it was like, well, what do we want to tell them or what do we want them to take from this conversation or from this shift in social justice moment?

♪ [Music] >> I want to be explicit.

I don't want it to be vague.

I don't want to be like nicey nice.

But I want to be clear what we're saying.

I don't want to be like, well, were they?

You know, I'm going to be like, no, you have to present a hopeful idea of how to move forward.

>> I just kept thinking about your design; your texting tape.

>> Yeah.

>> And how that is such a powerful point of the whole project.

I started thinking about a monument to the end of racism and how would that look like.

How would a mural work in those same terms.

♪ [Music] >> Thinking about history and Richmond's history, and its institutional racism in our country, I started thinking about bold advertising that was painted on buildings that has faded away... -Yeah.

>> You know what I'm talking about.

>> Yeah.

♪ [Music] >> This ribbon is this moment of us being tied up in what's happening that, you know, this stuff is historical, but it's the present moments.

♪ [Music] >> So much of the genetic makeup of racism in America started here in Richmond, in Virginia.

♪ [Music] >> You know, Jamestown and the first English colony that resulted in the decimation of the indigenous population.

Or we talk about Port Comfort where the first Africans were, arrived in Virginia, which led to the creation of this chattel slavery system.

Former capital of Confederacy.

>> [Noise] >> The home of mass resistance to the Brown versus Board of Education decision to integrate schools, shut down schools.

Shut down public schools.

So all of that, and more, is in the soil of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

♪ [Music] >> It becomes a conversation around identity; who are we and what are we and what are we as a city?

And then saying we're more than this.

[Street noise] >> And what I love about what we did here is that we presented some idea.

Right?

Like you can't stand up alone that way and you have to work together.

♪ [Music] >> Reconciliation, implies that we were connected or together in the first place.

Right?

We were never connected in the first place.

Before we can reconcile we have to concile.

It's that discomfort.

Discomfort is going to be part of this process.

♪ [Music] >> We are trying to really get people to connect beyond their experiences.

This is about working with someone that you don't know.

You have to almost compromise and in your message and learn something from to work with.

>> [Traffic noise] >> Hey, man.

>> Come on in.

♪ [Music] >> We didn't just go, hey, I liked your work, hey, I like your work too, let's just see what happens; Our kids met, you know.

Your house was very warming, >> we chilled for a little bit.

>> Right.

>> Like you said, we broke bread before.

The thing about it is wouldn't have been able to work together >> if there was no understanding of each other.

>> Sure.

>> You know what I'm saying?

>> Right.

So that's cool.

And it leaves us the ability to do the fist right above that, come out of that.

>> The first time I was in cuffs I was, I was in middle school.

I think I was probably in the seventh or eighth grade.

That's my introduction of the system.

Right?

See what I'm saying?

Because I know your background ain't all squeaky clean.

>> Right.

I mean, I was in cuffs.

But the thing is I'm sure I was treated differently.

>> Yeah.

Right, right, right.

>> Maybe when you were in cuffs.

You know what I mean?

I've had a lot of interaction with the police and oftentimes it's been very pleasant, you know.

>> [Laughs] >> I mean, it's been wild some of the times, you know.

>> Right, right.

>> I mean, I've been offered extra help from the police.

[Laughs] >> You know.

Like crazy stuff.

It's just wild.

And that's something strange that Black and White people share.

I mean, it's different most of the time.

>> Most of the time.

[Background chatter] >> So, you know, I've obviously come up with a lot of privilege in my life.

Not just because I'm White, but because when my mom got remarried to my stepdad he had money.

I've had that privilege.

And acknowledging that is so hard for a lot of White people to do.

It's just like... >> [Laughs] >> It's just like really hard to even acknowledge >> that it exists at all.

Right?

>> Yeah, yeah, yeah.

>> Because you they're putting their own definition to it.

>> [Noise] >> That's the cool thing about being an artist or just somebody, you know, in any kind of creative endeavor is, you know, with each gained experience is also a new lesson within that.

>> Every moment.

♪ [Music] >> I'm always trying to better myself, you know, I'm not great at that, but, you know, I try.

And hearing your experiences adds to that.

Right?

It helps me gain some empathy for how others, including you, grew up and your experiences, you know, and how that contrasts my experiences.

♪ [Music] >> I think that within the mural some of the things obviously aren't as literal, you know, that they are more, you know, metaphoric.

And then you've got >> like the peace sign and the Black fist.

Right?

>> Right.

>> Those are very specific images.

A lot of people that you have that racism, that prejudice inside of them may have an adverse reaction to that.

Right?

But it's there.

And that's better than not being there.

>> I hope, you know, at least that they get a sense of reflection, of more than just themselves.

You know what I'm saying?

More of a unity and community and body in that way.

♪ [Music] >> Knowing that this has been a... this has been some... we've met some challenging moments over the last couple weeks just to put a mirror in front of Richmond's face and has asked us to question whether or not we like the question that's coming back across from that mirror.

>> I started realizing that they needed to hear from more than just me.

I wanted them to hear from protesters on the ground.

I wanted them to hear from, you know, government officials, I wanted them to hear from just everyone who had some type of public say in that moment.

>> I've been living in Richmond all my life and I don't even know who's on Monument Avenue.

There's just so many other names we have to focus on for right now.

Families are making $9,000 or less in some of these communities.

There's 40,000 people living under the poverty line.

>> One of the things that we are doing at Girls for Change just to share is really making sure that we're closing the gap that Black girls face.

And that's about advancing their opportunities.

>> So I came on a Mending Wall Zoom call simply because I wanted to give them encouragement.

This may have been some of the artists on that call's first example of really stepping out and using their art as a form of activism.

And there's a little bit of fear in that.

>> We're at this point now where it seems like Richmond as a whole in many ways or certain factors of Richmond want to have conversations that have kind of been put off for years.

The conversations about inclusion, the conversations about race.

I'm very interested to see how you leverage the moment that we have now.

Right?

And how to transition that into something that makes a better Richmond.

And what does that look like?

Art can be an amazing vehicle.

Murals can be an amazing vehicle in which people can stop, reflect, think and apply what they're seeing outwardly inwardly.

And hopefully in the long run projects like Mending Walls will allow people to take a look at themselves and also change the way they may be seeing the community in a new way that they've never seen before.

♪ [Music] >> I think it gave artists different perspectives.

And everyone on those Zoom calls, all the speakers on those Zoom calls had different perspectives.

>> I believe that, you know, since we are in the center of it that we should play a role in asking those questions about who we are and who we want to be moving forward.

And that begins with some serious conversations with our community.

Some of it quite difficult, some of it uncomfortable, but much of it very necessary.

>> The only reason why anyone's here right now is because of the people that are on the ground.

They're literally sending in a National Guards and spending... the Governor just ordered for another 600 grand of our budget to go to a month of policing us in the streets for the National Guard.

All to protect property.

And it's you all's jobs what to put on that property that is literally more valuable than our lives right now.

>> I know a lot of the artists reached out and had conversations with some of the speakers from the Zoom calls and that's exactly what I intended.

>> It's just wild.

So I think that even now as we talk about policing, we're not talking enough about... >> I think talking to Chelsea was really important to me.

>> Yes.

>> We went out to the circle.

>> Yes, you did.

>> And sat on the steps of the circle.

And I think her words are always really impactful.

>> Breonna Taylor had her house broken into by cops and they shot her with no hesitation.

But here we have public officials upset because we made some noise outside your yard?

These two things don't align.

We want artists to feel that.

We want you to feel our pain, our anger, our frustration.

>> I remember her talking about things like the fact that we were even putting decorations on walls that the police were literally harming people to protect.

Like it's just shook me to my core a little bit about what I do as a muralist.

>> It was profound, for sure.

>> What is my role in this?

And how ... we talked a lot about how we wanted to make sure that this design, this wall, this process was not about optics, it's about action and how can we take this opportunity and turn it into something that really helps the activist on the street.

>> I think that these conversations >> are what we're really just asking for.

>> Right.

>> And when it comes to whatever the output of the art is, if we're in community I actually don't...

I don't have anything to say about like what it looks, tells, whatever, I actually trust that the stories that will come out through you just because you're in community with me and because I know you've been listening and because I know you're informed.

And that's the type of like influence, like I want to be able to have with one another.

>> Like I thought I understood, you know, how someone who's an activist and protesting on the street and is constantly fighting every day, I thought I understood what she would have been thinking.

But then I realized very much so that she is putting herself at a completely different risk.

And what that means to her, you know.

And that's why in our mural our figure she is many things.

She is wearing many hats.

Not only is she liberty herself, but she is in protest, she's representing all of those women who have led the civil rights movement, the suffrage movement.

She is representing women leading the way, still to this day in protest and guiding change, you know.

>> The reason I love murals is we have this opportunity to create conversation in a community.

And that act is something I feel very, very passionate about.

>> Art has the ability to allow people to think about something and exposes them to something that they may never would have been exposed to or have a relationship with.

And even if it doesn't change their mind, you know, but as long as they're thinking about it, that's the beginning, that's the beginning to action.

>> Anyone in the community please feel free to hang out with us.

This is a learning session and a time for us all to come together and to continue growing for Black liberation.

>> One of the activists from RVA26, which is a group of activists that were all arrested during that first weekend and put in buses and held in isolation.

She reached out to me and said is it okay if I come out.

And I said, yes, you are the exact kind of person I would like to come out.

>> [Motor noise] >> Beautiful.

And I love you.

>> [Clapping] >> Don't matter if you look like me, your color ain't mine.

I love you.

Because God made all, all, and never forget this.

>> It was extremely important for us to not make something that was not inclusive of what they are trying to do.

We wanted to merge those two.

Like how can we collaborate almost in a way of like amplifying what it is that you all are doing on the platform that we have, you know.

>> That energy of just togetherness and this representation that we created in that neighborhood was like a little pocket of hope for that, you know, hour.

And it was, I will never forget that.

♪ [Music] >> So seeing these mural locations now becoming alive with other artists and dancers and poets and other people who just gather there is really just a part of successful public art.

It's creative place making at its finest.

♪ [Music] >> That's exactly what I intended.

I plan on fostering that in the future and finding other ways to do it.

♪ [Music] >> [Traffic noise] >> The idea that we need to talk meant that we needed to sit down, have a conversation majorly with the White community and ask for some help.

>> Right.

>> That wasn't working.

It's never worked.

You should be able to go to your police officer and commune and ask questions and get, you know, feel safe.

And I've never felt that, you know.

I've never felt that safety.

>> [Inaudible] >> [Mixing paint] >> If you were to put images [inaudible] >> you know what I mean?

>> Yep.

The very first thing that Jason and I did was we met six feet apart and just started talking.

>> Growing up a Black man in America is something that we constantly dealt with and kind of glossed over.

I think we normalize it after a while.

Yeah, if I do get pulled over by police it's a strong chance that I can get pulled out of that car and going to harass me and going to ask me questions that they may not ask you.

The harsh reality is is that's how it is.

>> And for me it was a really nervous thing, because I didn't want to say the wrong thing, which I found out I had to.

He was great because he opened everything up and said you're not going to offend me, let's talk, let's get everything out.

So we started talking about how we approached art, what we saw in life.

We talked about dumb things, really profound things that affected us and our families.

I felt a reservation of putting my fist up with everybody else.

And it wasn't because I wasn't in unity with them, but I felt like I'm... a lot of the reason why we're here.

You know what I mean?

Like I didn't feel like I belonged doing that.

And then I was like, but I want to be part of this and I have to be part of the change.

>> You were like, I was at the protest and I was wondering if that's something like... can I hold my fist up and I'm like listen that's, yeah, we all do that.

It's about unity.

Because that was the first thing we put up on the wall.

That fist went up and then everything else kind of, you know, came from that.

In my community it resonated.

And I think it shined a light on that piece from the start that was unmatched.

>> I started realizing that the life of compliancy that I was living, you started seeing how systemic racism hides and plays.

I mean, if you remember we had a gentleman come up to ask us for work and as soon as the person came up he looked at you and just immediately thought you being a young Black man >> you were obviously working for me.

>> Right.

>> Because I was on an older White man.

So he went right past you and went right to talk to me, >> which I was absolutely floored by.

>> Right.

>> But what got me, and it almost tears me up, >> that you said like this happens all the time.

>> Right.

>> This is a constant for the Black community.

>> Yep.

>> And I didn't even see it until that moment.

♪ [Music] >> I wanted to focus in on young black and brown kids because I know that a lot of times they don't get a chance to see somebody that looks like them win.

It's about coming together and showing our strength together.

And now more than ever having the little black kids, white kids, kids from all different walks of life stand together in fighting collectively for the same thing.

It sprinkles a little bit of hope on things.

♪ [Music] >> So what we're going to do, you all are going to work on is across the top we have a border we're doing, in four different colors.

>> Let's get started.

>> Anything else?

>> Ready to get paint on your hands?

>> Yes.

>> Alright.

>> I fully believe that the more people that are educated and aware and have empathy and step forward the more we are leaning into the kind of community that we want to be.

So for us there was no question that there was going to be volunteer opportunities as a part of the project.

It's really easy to do your own project, to do your own thing.

But you bring two artists together and a group of people you've got to work really hard to communicate and be compassionate and to explain and to really be able to articulate what your intention is.

>> We're going to have some tough conversations and maybe have some, you know, hard feelings today.

But this is a wonderful start and we really appreciate having everyone here today.

>> We're in a moment where there are a lot of things being written on walls and things like that.

They're there because people feel like their voices are not heard.

As a public artist in Richmond one of the things that I wanted to do was make sure those words were not just erased, I wanted to make sure that we furthered the conversation about those words.

>> Hi.

>> Today we're going to be creating mandalas on the theme of social justice.

And mandalas can be used as sort of a meditation process.

>> And so here I want us to think about the symbol for something that we really despise.

You know, especially when it comes to social justice, racism.

What would be a symbol for racism for you?

>> And I think that the volunteers really offered a depth to the project because they experienced it in a very different way.

You know, when we've interviewed and talked to volunteers they left a piece of themselves on those walls.

>> We're going to write on the wall and then we're going to have like an open dialogue just to share what you guys have written on the wall.

>> What's in a name?

>> What's in a name?

>> Suffering and pain.

♪ [Music] >> Whatever you guys want to see destroyed then we're going to cover that up with the black background.

And then create something beautiful on top of it.

♪ [Music] >> We're always looking for this exponential experience, because when you bring a volunteer, particularly into such a complex and sensitive topic as, you know, the racial justice movement or people's perspective, I think it just gets real.

♪ [Music] >> Muralizing, memorializing, that experience that we're going through right now is so incredible because in 20, 30, 50 years' time this will be something that I'll remember that we were doing.

The benefit is just art comes out of it.

The conversation is the real masterpiece and then the art is the byproduct of the conversation and connection that we all have.

>> Alright.

>> Look who said it.

>> So we're going to give you guys' rollers and we're going to lay out paint colors.

>> We wanted to give other people the opportunity to contribute and step in and experience this project and be onsite to talk to each other.

We talked about like let's just let people paint >> whatever they want.

>> Uh-hmm.

And they did a great job covering the space.

They were able to express themselves.

Some wrote words.

Some decided to paint large sections in different colors and use different colors.

And some just kind of stayed in within their confined little compartment and worked on that piece.

And they all turned out great.

We stepped back to take a look at it across the street, it was like, oh, my god, they actually did what we wanted them to do without having to tell them this is what we were looking for.

And so it really showcased when you give people the opportunity to just be themselves and explore how those things organically just show up and happen and it falls in line with what you already have.

>> [Laughter] >> We wanted to be visionary with it.

We wanted to think forward into how to create the world that we want to live in.

And to do that we had to talk about of course the problems with the world that we're in, but I think both of us wanted to focus on how to imagine the solutions and how to imagine what it would feel like to get to those solutions.

>> And that's where we came and that's right at the point where we came in with the I can, I can't breathe.

>> If the tables were turned what would that look like?

>> Yeah.

>> You know, and I think that's a lot of the despair in the African American community.

>> It's like there's no hope.

>> Yeah.

>> You know, because the conversations, we've had them for hundreds of years or for centuries and decades and months, but what happens is that chaotic moment turns into, okay, now I can see some type of hope, now I can see some type of oh, I can breathe.

>> [Laughs] >> Wow.

Okay.

>> [Laughter] ♪ [Music] >> Wow.

Yeah.

I like it.

>> Yeah, we can do that.

We can do that.

That'd be cool.

♪ [Music] >> The people coming are already dealing with the I can't breathe notion, so what can we do as artists, as visionaries to give a bit of hope, a bit of peace and a bit of understanding that there is a possibility that I can breathe.

>> And what takes you there?

What would make you feel more unencumbered?

And how would you visualize that?

♪ [Music] >> When we got to Shockoe Bottom, the thought was that was the only mural in Shockoe Bottom, but then the history of what Shockoe Bottom holds, the slave trade that ran through Virginia at that time ... >> Thinking about the water of the river that would bring these ships and also thinking about like the concept of water as atmosphere and thinking about like the turmoil >> on the top of the water... >> And life under it.

>> And the deep waters.

>> Uh-hmm.

>> With like sustaining and trapping life down there.

And as the project moved forward and we got more and more specific we had already started on the wall by the time we figured out some of the final pieces.

And meanwhile like the world is still unfolding around us.

>> Still unfolding, pandemic's still going.

And unfortunately still having altercations with police brutality.

James Blake was shot by the police officers, several times, but he survived.

And when I read that article and heard the news I was like that's it.

I still can breathe.

But I'm still submerged under the fact that I'm Black.

But I'm still present to breathe and talk about it.

And many have not been able to still breathe and talk about their issues, because they've been submerged under that water or that turmoil or that turbulence and not been able to come up for air, because they don't see the hope, they don't see the possibilities.

That was a part of our mission with creating it it was in the midst of this chaos can we still find beauty in the art?

Can we still find beauty in what is happening here?

And I think there's beauty in this whole transition where society and this nation is just going right now, because things are changing.

♪ [Music] >> I'll mention this again, but make sure that you guys have your chat box open in front of you.

And we did a little test from today.

We had Vanessa as an audience ... >> The conversation was the most important part.

The idea of having people really speak about the work and the intent of the work and not just the aesthetic of the work was really what the project was all about.

So the civic talks were there from the beginning.

>> We decided that we would have the civic talks where specific artists would come and share their inspiration and also the challenges and the insights that they gained from doing the project and have the community participate and engage with that.

>> I find that in most of my work I try to deal with social issues.

I try to deal with the environment.

So Mending Walls was the perfect frame for what I try to do in my art every day.

>> We broke up into the small groups during the civic discussions.

You know, we talked about the different art, the different pieces and said well, what does that mean?

And when you hear what the artist was thinking things start to click a little bit different, the pieces of the puzzle come together.

And I think it comes together in civic discussions when you have real conversation with people.

And that's hard.

That's not something that's easy to do.

We need to practice that.

We need to really put intention behind it and say I believe that I've got something to learn and I have something to give.

>> You know, our upbringing conditions us to be who we are, to feel what we feel and just to kind of experience what we experience.

This right here, this is what the project is about.

These talks beyond the art is what this is about and it's really what's going to, you know, help in the healing process and to kind of fuel the connection that's needed.

>> We separated our ego a little bit.

We showed empathy.

We listened.

And that for me was a metaphor for what society can do right now.

>> The idea of having discussions and dialogues with people who think differently or have questions or really want to wonder that's how people learn.

>> These murals, I mean, you can't avoid them.

You see it out of the corner of your eyes, the bright colors draw you in.

You know, the bold imagery it draws you in.

You can't not look at it.

You can't not stop and say, what's the message here?

You know, what's the symbol?

And I think that's the point, you know, it's eye catching.

But then when you look at it there's a whole subverted message and there's a whole subverted idea that, I mean, that we need to talk about.

>> It's open ended.

You know, the idea is to point people in the right direction.

You can't control their thoughts or what they're going to do or you can't predict where they're going to end up.

It's up to them, you know.

The only thing you can do is kind of lead them to light, you know.

>> It was actionable.

It was something that was geared towards confronting, you know, the conflict, confronting the controversy, confronting the roots of the Confederacy and bringing it to the table and having a conversation about it.

♪ [Music] >> I had to think who died on the front lines.

>> [Traffic noise] >> I know a lot of people who were out in the streets and who do that work and that was a big struggle for me in the beginning.

Like where do I need to be in this movement?

But in the beginning it was like should I be out there?

Is the art enough?

Can I say that my art is speaking for the cause?

Like who am I to say that?

>> Public art does that.

Right?

It's like, okay, well, what's the best way to send a message?

It's like write it on the wall [Laughs] for literally everybody to see.

>> It's all I got.

So, yeah, it's really all I got.

♪ [Music] >> Next is yellow.

We got to like pale it out.

Right?

♪ [Music] >> So you need a white?

>> Oh, yeah.

>> [Laughs] ♪ [Music] >> Mending Walls was about bringing in people from different backgrounds, you know, and learning about where you came from and your come up story.

We didn't know each other before we started this project at all.

Not to say that we wouldn't have been friends, but I don't know if our paths would have crossed in any way.

>> Not like that.

>> I think that that was one of the most important factors of Mending Walls and Ham doing this.

When people rally around art it really breaks down those barriers.

>> I'm going to reduce that a little bit as well.

>> [inaudible] >> Yeah, alright, cool.

>> I'm excited man.

I'm ready.

>> You drove the concept of involving the youth, which I think was a really important topic that wasn't being talked about in the whole movement.

Right?

>> Uh-hmm.

I just saw like a George Washington-like figure standing like... and I looked up the actual painting, the Washington Crossing the Delaware and I was like, okay, so I'm just going to remix it.

I don't know, the Band-Aid on the knee and the Converse...

I designed the figure so that like anybody could look at be like, oh, that's me.

♪ [Music] >> This image is familiar.

Right?

And it feels familiar in a lot of ways.

And this is exactly how the Founding Fathers intended, you know, this is not an end all, be all, you need to change always according to the times.

And putting, you know, a Black figure in that place of power and position is, you know... in this iconic, iconic image that speaks about America, it speaks about, you know, when we're not satisfied with something we change it.

That's always been in our nature and in our roots, you know.

I really, really, really think that that image allows the viewer to be like, okay, I recognize this, it's like way different.

How?

Why?

Who is this?

Why should I care, you know, like why are they in this power position, the figure?

Well, this is the next generation, you know.

♪ [Music] >> The whole purpose to this wall was to kind of peer into the future, right, and focus more about the youth and be like, okay, they're the catalyst for change.

And I feel as though, you know, this image that we have before us, you know, this strong, confident child looking forward into the future, there's a sense of hopefulness.

♪ [Music] [Beeping] In making a mural it's... you never know what you're going to get.

It's really not an easy process.

Sometimes equipment fails.

>> [Noise] >> [Laughs] >> We're stuck.

I know.

I know.

[Laughs] Sometimes I don't know, you're just having a bad day.

[Laughs] >> [Motor noise] >> She's an accident of projection, man.

I know it gets twisted up and I think her whole face shifted to... [Laughs] >> Well, it's an important part of the piece.

I can understand that.

>> Dehydration.

It's like getting food.

>> You're already a starving artist.

But you're out there for like 12 hours a day, not eating again.

>> There's just so many questions, like do I stop for lunch?

Or should I keep going?

>> Should I be breathing in all these paint fumes like on an empty stomach?

>> I feel like I might pass out.

>> But I got to get this part down.

>> Yeah.

>> It's supposed to rain in five minutes.

>> Yeah.

Also true.

Weather.

Everything like that.

>> Yeah.

>> A lot of people don't realize the full body workout.

>> Oh, it's so much.

>> That a mural... >> Yeah, up and down ladders all day.

>> Yeah.

>> It's a lot, you know.

>> [Noise] >> [Laughter] >> So I mean these artists really only had a week to get them done, because, you know, we were making these projects in succession.

It was week after week after week.

And so once Monday hit, it was like go.

>> My last stretch ... >> Do we have everything?

>> Yes.

>> And they had to kind of overcome a lot of those obstacles.

>> What obstacles do we have here?

>> Sun.

>> [Noise] >> I'm doing it.

>> [Noise] >> The wind.

>> A lot of the just every day stuff that goes along with painting a huge wall >> in the middle of the city.

>> Whoa.

>> And I dipped it in the wrong thing.

Oh, my gosh, can I have another small brush?

>> [Laughs] >> The walls itself is, you know, they always present the challenge too.

Whether they're bricks or stucco or cinder block or already painted and you have to worry about what they were painted with and whether or not your paint is going to stay.

Then you get tired and sore and you swear that you're never going to do another one.

[Laughs] Every time.

>> [Traffic noise] >> We can't mend this... >> [Laughter] >> This is beyond repair.

>> [Laughs] >> Is that from me?

>> Yeah.

[Laughs] >> Matt is very whimsical in his work.

>> They can't all be like these powerful images that make people cry when they see them, you know.

That's not what I have to offer.

>> [Laughs] >> I was thinking, whoa, hey, let's play around in this, you know what I mean?

Like let's make this a mural that talks about different experiences, but it also doesn't take itself too serious.

>> But we were talking about our childhood sometime during that time.

>> Yeah.

I want the toys to be symbols of a different childhood, because I think that is where the meaning of this piece comes from, like the toys representing different experiences.

>> I want to know like, you know, if you show me this list of toys, like what was going on when you had that toy and that kind of thing.

>> In my backyard was like a concrete driveway with a basketball hoop.

I woke up six am and played basketball til the sun went down.

>> It was us as kids painted on the wall and then parallel elements.

Iconic objects or characters in TV shows or whatever.

Everybody knows who they are and they have a relationship with that.

>> I was more or so just like what makes me think about my childhood, right, because my experience, my experiences shaped me.

It's more so just, hey, different experiences.

So I thought working with Matt would be a little bit of a break, because we knew each other, but it wasn't.

Matt was really into this concept.

I mean, from the second we got there he was like, so let's talk.

We're supposed to be talking, aren't we?

>> Hey, can I ask you something and you won't get all pissed off at me?

>> Why would I get pissed off at you?

>> We're on the lift so I don't want to fist fight up here.

>> And honestly I had probably the deepest conversation that I've ever had with Matt at that wall.

And it's continuing today.

>> We had talked before about out where I live in this neighborhood with lakes and stuff like this, swimming pools and all this.

And I told you that you would be perfectly fine out there where I lived.

And you had a mistrust of that and I was like Hamilton, it's me.

I'm telling you, it's fine out there.

>> I hear you.

That takes a lot of trust.

>> Of me?

>> It's not about you.

It's about your experiences.

It's about what we're painting right now.

Your home is where you feel at home at.

Right?

Like you want to feel comfortable in your neighborhood.

And I have many friends who actually live in the suburbs of Richmond.

But I wouldn't necessarily live there, because I just don't feel comfortable there.

And I'm scared of getting a neighbor or a neighborhood person that I don't trust and I mean like the Ahmaud Arbery story is a perfect example of that.

Right?

And I'm not talking about everyone who lives in that area.

I'm certainly not talking about, you know, I know there are great people in that area.

Matt lives out there.

>> [Laughter] >> Conversations have changed the way that I looked at a lot of things, not just where I live, but...

It was very valuable.

It was every bit as valuable of an experience having us there for a week and sort of made to talk.

It was what I thought the beauty of the whole project was in the first place.

But I mean if I could learn that much I would do it 100 more times.

♪ [Music] >> Being able to say we did 16 walls; one per week at least, in a single season, in a single year, is just amazing.

♪ [Music] >> Once I realized how fast that project was going to go and how much work that it was going to create there's no way I could imagine being able to do that and plan that.

But it happened and it was the greatest feeling in the world once we accomplished all of that.

♪ [Music] >> Everybody was looking for this answer of what to do and how to do it and Hamilton provided a lot of us, basically everyone that's in this project was given a gift of meaning and conversation and some action and a sense of connectedness, which we all needed.

I think it's elevated the idea of what public art can do.

♪ [Music] >> So it's not just something that's on the wall, but it's something that's dynamic and adds some three- dimensional conversation to who we are as a community and who do we want to be.

I think it can tell our past.

It also tells our present and it can give us a little bit of a highlight of what's to come or what we hope is to come.

♪ [Music] >> I think projects like Mending Walls allow our community in particular in Richmond to see in a larger context what's happening and how it can indeed serve not only as a bridge but a pathway to a better future.

♪ [Music] >> There is a presence and a power and a possibility represented in this piece and all of the pieces in the Mending Walls project that I think are extraordinary.

I think every Richmonder, every Richmonder has the chance to look at some of the work that has been done across the city and to recognize that it belongs to them and in so doing they can see for themselves exactly what the future might hold for Richmond.

♪ [Music] >> He was inspired to say we need to talk.

And he used his most potent weapon, which is public art, or art in general, to spark the conversation.

♪ [Music] [Laughter] >> We like that people are getting the idea that we wanted to share from the beginning and people have been sending me or others just like poems and clips and messages of things that they feel in front of the mural or that the mural makes them think of.

And it's amazing.

It's a great feeling just to have that, opening those feelings or those experiences for others.

♪ [Music] >> Our lives have been improved, our hearts have been enlarged, our conversations have been real and relationships, deep meaningful relationships have been established.

♪ [Music] >> And, of course, there's so much more work that needs to be done.

But it's because of these conversations, you know, not specifically Mending Walls but all of us together as a Richmond community and what every role is playing.

And I think that Mending Walls still does play a large role, not the only role, of course, but a large role in being a catalyst and doing what we artists do best talking through our work.

We should be proud of this artist community that we are building and have built that is now coming together to do something.

>> We have to rely on our public art.

Our public art has a different sort of responsibility to start conversation through Mending Walls and through work that continues afterwards.

We need to keep that responsibility as artists, like close to our heart as we move forward.

♪ [Music] >> There's so much energy coming out of Richmond to transform the unhealed racial past and we're confronting.

And if we can do it in Richmond, not can, we are, if we're doing this in Richmond, I feel like it's almost like a fractal that what we do in Richmond is going to organically start replicating across the country and across the globe.

>> I've just been hearing from a lot of artists where school teachers, community centers are reaching out and asking them to come talk about it.

It's doing exactly what it's supposed to do.

♪ [Music] >> For the first time in forever some people are seeing things in a different light.

And that gives me hope.

♪ [Music] >> It's just beautiful.

And I'm honored to be amongst you guys.

You guys are just... >> [Shouting] ♪ [Music]