Shield of Peace and Non-Violence with Vito Valdez

Work in Progress, Southwest Detroit, Michigan. 2017

The Shield of Peace and Non-Violence was a mural that Vito Valdez and I envisioned in 2015, but suffered multiple delays from challenging moments in our (my) personal lives. Vito and I won the Knight Arts Challenge grant from the Knight Foundation in 2015.

We worked on the project for three years, having workshops with the community, trying to get at the heart of problem and the healing of/from gun violence in the Southwest Detroit community. We had beautiful workshops and community meetings, and did the best we could through challenging circumstances.