I painted the “Hate Has No Home Here” mural on Circle Avenue Bridge in Forest Park on May, 2017 as part of the Cover Our Rust Public Art Project, a beautification project taken on by the Forest Park Arts Alliance. Given the opportunity to paint a cement panel on Circle Avenue Bridge at Harlem with dimensions of 10 feet x 2.5 feet, I decided to create an image that projected love and inclusivity. Inspired by home signs printed after the election of the president elect declaring “Hate Has No Home Here,” I wanted to create a larger-scale homage to the phrase in a subtle way. Always a lover of painting hands, I enlisted a good friend who is fluent in American Sign Language (ASL) to sign the phrase, “Hate Has No Home Here” word by word, and painted each sign end to end. On each hand, there is a small script of the word for passersby to read, but to see them requires stepping quite close to the mural. This was intentional – to require viewers to investigate, step a bit closer, and feel the weight of the phrase through a new perspective.

I’m from out of town, but I’ve crossed this bridge three times now while heading from the ‘L’ to the Ferrara candy store. I think this is a beautiful mural with a very important message. It really does beautify the area, and it projects a wonderful theme that is necessary in our modern world. Thank-you for your work on it.
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David, thank you so much for your comment, it made my day. I’m so flattered that you enjoyed the mural and that it spoke to you, that’s truly all I could have asked for when painting it. Take care.
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