Portland, Oregon
Confronting gun violence with a student-led street mural
The Project
For this project, the Portland Bureau of Transportation partnered with the nonprofits City Repair and the Pathfinder Network to fund an 8-week creative placemaking and crime prevention class for students at Parkrose High School. The class culminated in a traffic calming and street painting project for ⅛ mile of a street that had the highest increase in gun violence in the city. Students from the school’s art club who had been personally affected by gun violence, incarceration, deportation, or detention, designed the mural that included symbols, such as a butterfly and a mermaid, that represented relatives of the students who were killed. During the painting process, relatives – and in one case three generations of a single family – came together to paint the mural in honor of their lost family members.
Being a part of this project feels great. We got to do something big in a public space instead of just drawing on a piece of paper. It’s fun, and it has a powerful meaning because it’s about preventing gun violence.
Mariah, Student, Parkrose High School
Use the slider to see the transformation
Press
Street Plazas November Newsletter- Plazas & Beyond: Expanding Community Connections Across Portland (Portland.gov, November 14, 2024)
Portland’s Largest Ever Street Mural Is on NE 131st Avenue (Bikeportland, November 12, 2024)
How Parkrose Teens Helped Win $25,000 to Fix a Street (Axios, December 20, 2023)
For inspiration and tips for the creation of art on roadways and public places, download the Bloomberg Associates Asphalt Art Guide which features successful plaza and roadway art activations around the world, as well as key steps for developing such projects.
