Visit the Art on Sedgwick Gallery for the unveiling of an art exhibition and a new mural by Chicago-based artist Sam Kirk. The exhibition showcases a community-wide project with art inspired by William Walker’s 1972 murals, All of Mankind.
William Walker (1927 – 2011) is considered the founding father of the community mural movement. In 1967, as the organizer of the Wall of Respect—a mural depicting images of significant black heroes on a two story shuttered tavern at 43rd Street and Langley—he was the first to create accessible artworks in and for the community as a reflection of the people’s aspirations and pride. This helped launch the public art movement in Chicago and is estimated to have inspired at least 1,500 community murals across the country.
Walker was commissioned to paint murals on the interior and exterior walls of San Marcello Mission Church (later Northside Stranger’s Home Missionary Baptist Church). Considered one of Walker’s finest works, All of Mankind illuminated the triumph and struggles of Black Americans, the mourning of religious and civil rights leaders lost to violence, and the hope for human equality and harmony across differences in race, gender, and religion.
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An initiative of the Terra Foundation for American Art in partnership with artists and organizations across the city, Art Design Chicago is a series of events and exhibitions that highlight the city’s artistic heritage and creative communities.
