During the early hours of June 13, 2009 one of El Barrio’s most famous outdoor artworks, the “Spirit of East Harlem” mural was mysteriously defaced.
Click here to read David Conzalez’s June 27, 2009 report in The New York Times.
After the incident, Hope Community decided to look at the building walls, their messages, messengers, and how those messages are perceived. “Street Talk: Public Art in East Harlem” details the historical and cultural significance of community art and demonstrates how public art plays a big role in defining the identity of El Barrio and its residents.
The landmark painting has significant historical roots in Spanish Harlem and has served as a cultural attraction for thousands of students and tourists from around the country and the world.
Commissioned by Hope Community, Inc. in 1978, the four-story mural was created by Hank Prussing and featured local residents engaging in everyday activities. Artist Manny Vega, who served as Prussing’s apprentice restored the badly weathered painting in the mid-1990s.
View an interactive interpretation of the mural titled “Spirit of East Harlem Then and Now” created in 2011 by then Columbia University School of Journalism student Sarah McNaughton.
Concurrently read the story of this mural as captured from her research also by then Columbia University School of Journalism student Elizabeth Harball.
Both the interactive and story were both first published in the Uptowner in 2011.