You Belong Here
.Since January 2018 I’ve been diligently coordinating with a group of magnificently talented french underground street artists in creating a bridge to bring their unique talents to Philadelphia. And October 2018 it happened, a crew of 4 talented french artists arrived at my door from a collective called Ars Muralis.
A little background on Ars Muralis:
The anonymous French collectif Ars Muralis was created 8 years ago.
The anonymous French collectif Ars Muralis was created 8 years ago.
The motto of the collectif is: "Paste in silence to make maximum noise".
We seek to provoke emotions and reactions among passersbys.
We are starting a dialogue and opening the debate by placing ourselves at the same level as anyone. The street was chosen to spread art and offer it to everyone: freely and free. In the street, in front of our works, all passers-by’s are equal. Art is in the street. The street is the museum of the world.
Why paste?
- Paste is to fully live our freedom of expression, despite the prohibition.
- Paste is to propose another way to exist in the public space.
- Paste is to fix a drawing on a wall,
- Paste: nothing complicated.
When they walked through the door and we began looking at all the art they brought to install on the streets of Philadelphia I was amazed by the incredible volume of pieces. Bringing with them a ton of artworks from wheatpastes, stickers, video art and more.
When embarking on an adventure in a foreign place a strong belief of mine is to hit the streets and cover as much ground as possible by foot and that’s exactly what we did. Along our travels through the streets of Philly the wind pointed us in the direction of Riverwards to grab some groceries. In doing so we ran into none other than Conrad Benner of the widely known Streets Dept.
Which a huge thank you not only goes out to Conrad Benner but also Arts & Crafts Holdings as well as Spring Arts PHL for their warm and supportive welcome of this talented group of artists.
Under the suggestion of Conrad Benner and Spring Arts PHL we went out into the streets looking at different outdoor spaces. And then Arsmuralis and myself came upon the wall you see in this collection of photos.The perfectly sized windows, the incredible mural by artist Nero One and the support of Arts & Crafts Holdings as well as Spring Garden PHL This wall was exactly where Arsmuralis felt was the right home to honor Native American Chiefs who fought for their freedom and their homes across North America.
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Ars Muralis view creating these portraits of Native American Chiefs not only to honor those indigenous people but also as symbols of America.
“If the white man wants to live in peace with the Indian, he can live in peace…..Treat all men alike. Give them all the same law. Give them all an even chance to live and grow. All men were made by the same Great Spirit Chief. They are all brothers. The Earth is the mother of all people, and all people should have equal rights upon it…….Let me be a free man, free to travel, free to stop, free to work, free to trade….where I choose my own teachers, free to follow the religion of my fathers, free to think and talk and act for myself, and I will obey every law, or submit to the penalty.” – Chief Joseph, Nez Perce
All photos Jes Gamble