Brooklyn
Inclusive Safety Mural

Located at Kurt Hahn Expeditionary High School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn

Located at Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning High School in East Flatbush, Brooklyn

Created by:
Brooklyn-based Artist Danielle Mastrion & Kurt Hahn Expeditionary Learning High School Students

For this Inclusive Safety mural, Danielle and the students focused on the ideas of inclusion, safety, and “home.”

For the students and artist, “home” meant community, neighborhood, identity. They decided to depict “home” through symbols of their community’s past and present roots. The palm trees seemingly in the ocean on the upper left hand side of the mural represent the cultural identity of the students’ families and East Flatbush, which is largely Caribbean-American. The palm trees bend and seem to connect with the next element, the Brooklyn Bridge, which visually connects where the community is from and where they are now. The Brooklyn Bridge leads into a representation of the Brooklyn skyline - brick buildings, brownstones, some high rises, water towers that dot the Brooklyn skyline, finally ending yet again at the ocean, in Coney Island.

Thus, the upper portion of the mural goes from the Caribbean, bridging to Brooklyn, going through Brooklyn, from top to bottom, ending in Coney Island, and the same water flows back around to the palm trees.

Water is a huge element in the mural, since it anchors the palm trees, anchors Coney Island, and flows under the Bridge. It also is what flows out of the fire hydrant, which wraps around the middle / bottom elements. The fire hydrant also reinforces the sense of “home” and Brooklyn, since one is found on every single block in this city. A rainbow with brown + black was chosen to represent the Inclusive Safety theme of the mural, and the rainbow theme is continued in the silhouettes of the people, overlapping and joining together. The central image is a heart with dove wings, which symbolize peace. The heart has the main message “You Belong Here,” and the red of the heart also connects and flows into the top red of the rainbow. The sunflower represents warmth, growth, life; sunflowers always face and follow the sun, which is a powerful symbol and metaphor of how we are all connected to nature and growth. Every element of the mural touches or is connected, and that also reinforces the Inclusive Safety theme.

<1 Minute Mural Timelapse Video + Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Resources

If you want to learn how to be a better bystander, check out these free resources from our friends at Right To Be:

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