Mural series celebrates Durham

Hundreds of Durham residents and Duke students came together over colorful pastels and spray paints during the past year in a community effort called Face Up: Telling Stories of Community Life.

The Center for Documentary Studies, in collaboration with the Southwest Central Durham Quality of Life Project and the Office of Community Affairs, sponsored the creation of 14 murals intended to represent facets of Durham.

Artist and project coordinator Brett Cook led a tour of the murals Saturday to celebrate the debut of the large-scale murals, which are the final installment of Face Up. True to its nature, the artwork is not in an isolated gallery or museum but part of the community itself.

The project has three main focuses: people in the community, images of divinity and Pauli Murray, a Durham native who was a successful civil rights lawyer and later became the nation's first black female Episcopal priest.

The murals are scattered throughout town, situated in visible cultural landmarks, from the walls of elementary schools to the Institute for Southern Studies on Chapel Hill Street.

Face Up's roots stem from a simple premise: bring members of the community together through art. Along with Cook, CDS staffers Barbara Lau, community documentary programs director, and Exhibitions Director Courtney Reid-Eaton first conceived of the project in 2005. Based on Cook's earlier community projects in places such as Washington, D.C., Reid-Eaton believed his approach was in line with their vision.

Cook wanted to involve others in the process of creating the murals. After he created an outline drawing and projected the images onto non-woven fabric, hundreds of Durham residents filled in the outline with oil pastels. The fabric was then plastered to building walls and sealed with a coat of varnish.

Sophomore Ghisly Echezuria, who heard about the project from a professor, emphasized that the beauty of Face Up was the method

"[It's] not about the final product," she said. "The art really is the process of getting there."

One interesting highlight of Saturday's tour was an emphasis on Murray. The local figure lived most of her life in Durham, where she served as a historian, attorney, poet, civil rights activist, teacher, author and Episcopalian priest. Her strong beliefs in justice and community were principles that Cook hoped to convey in the murals.

"We want to encourage that same greatness that's in Pauli Murray in all of us," he said.

Lygia Yarborough and Stephanie Davis, two distant cousins of Murray, expressed their gratitude and pride in her recognition during the tour. One of their favorite murals is a portrait of Murray on the wall of a once-segregated restaurant that Yarborough and Davis used to walk past as children.

"It is very inspiring," Davis said.

Cook felt the project was a success because of its medley of collective efforts: some did designs, others drew pictures and a few even wrote their names.

"Literally and figuratively, this is something that everyone can see themselves in," he said.

Although the project was cosponsored by the Center for Documentary Studies, only a handful of Duke students participated in the mural walk.

"I think it's a pity that [students] don't get to know Durham," Echezuria said. "There are so many opportunities out there."

Lau said she agreed, and said she encourages students to become more engaged with the city around them.

"I want students to get excited about venturing out of the 'Duke bubble' and exploring Durham," she said. "Students are part of the Durham community and not just the Duke community. They may not always see themselves as [a part of] Durham but they are."

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