In Richmond, VA public art is one of the city’s biggest assets in the downtown area. As a city with one of the largest collections of public art in the United States we now have the unique opportunity to use public art as a tool to bring empathy and connect at a time when we need it the most.
Mending Walls was derived from a Robert Frost poem published in 1914. Mending Wall narrates a story of two neighbors working on a wall between their two farms. As the men work, the narrator questions the purpose of a wall “where it is we do not need the wall” but as the story goes on his neighbor replies twice with the proverb, “Good fences make good neighbors”. It’s this concept of why we, as Americans, put up walls, literally and figuratively, that inspired the title of Glass’ project.
From July-September 2020, Hamilton Glass paired together Richmond based artists from different backgrounds, ethnicities, and perspectives to create murals that reflect deep conversations about race and equality in the hopes that it sparks a larger conversation within our community.
The documentary takes viewers behind the scenes of this three-month public art project by being present in these conversations between painters, the design process, the painting of the murals, and the civic engagement activities that will follow
2020-09-17
Arts & Culture|Civil Rights & Social Justice
Producer Pam Hervey
Director Todd Hervey
Co-Producer Hamilton Glass
Senior Editor George Parker
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