When Joyce Chester drives down Chestnut Street every day, she wonders if it’s still there. Has it already been painted over?
Mr Chester, chief executive of the Friends Association, is thinking about a vibrant mural overlooking the street that he has been working on since 2022, commissioned by the homeless prevention group. However, the Friends opened a new location earlier this year. And the new occupant of the old building is demanding the removal of a mural painted by West Chester University student Noah Burns.
Chester said he has spoken to the mayor and borough council. Hello, West Chester says the building’s new owner is considering removing the mural, although there are no imminent plans for its removal. There are no ordinances protecting works of art. This may be the first time the city has dealt with a situation like this.
But because it’s private property, there’s little public officials can do to save it if the new residents decide they really want it gone. (The mayor and the borough’s Public Art Commission did not respond to requests for comment. The new residents could not be reached.)
It makes Chester sick.
“It’s really heartbreaking,” she said. “The day they paint it over, I might shed a tear, to be honest.”
When the Society of Friends moved, Chester was worried that something like this would happen. But she saw no reason to black out the vivid depictions of gentle faces that had looked out across Chestnut Street over the years, surrounded by depictions of homes and reaching out.
“When something is built in a building like that in a community, it kind of belongs to the community,” she said.
The Friends Association commissioned Barnes to paint the mural before he became a freshman. Burns, now 23 and planning to graduate this year with a degree in art and design, grew up in the area. His high school teacher informed him of an art recruitment event for the Friends Association, and he decided to give it a try.
The Society of Friends welcomed his artistic interpretation of the concepts of housing, compassion, and inclusivity. He spent one hot summer bringing the final design to life. I found this to be a more physical experience than sitting down and painting on canvas or working digitally.
This work was supported by the borough’s Public Art Commission, which assisted with the artist recruitment and application process. Its members and fellow artists also helped me paint this painting that summer. It is posted on the website and on the West Chester University School of Arts page.
Burns said it’s cool and “definitely different” to do something on this scale and see the work displayed publicly. He moved to Philadelphia to complete his degree, but heard about his possible deportation through his remaining connections in the community, including friends and family, and through the spread of social media posts.
“I’ve already gone through the stages of grief. I’m somewhere between denial and acceptance,” he said. “I want to fight for it, but I’m also in a semi-excluded state. I’m joking, but it’s kind of coincidental. I physically removed myself from that space, and then whatever was left of me was torn away.”
When the mural was first unveiled, Barnes recalls saying in his remarks that it needed to be seen and heard by many young people in the area. He felt this mural was the beginning of something like that.
“The issue is not the mural itself, but what it means to the space. As long as you’re putting something in there that brings value to the space, it’s okay to take it down, and I can agree with that,” he said. “But I think just painting it and dealing with the landlord would be a huge loss.”
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