CPED VINYL MURAL, 2025
The vinyl mural is a two sided visual representation of the complexity of what Minneapolis “used to be” juxtaposed by an imagined version of what Minneapolis is “going to be” in 2075 (50 years into the future).
My approach and creative inquiry has focused on the following key factors/components which include; the specific spatial considerations and the inside/out the location of the mural, and the translucent qualities of the printed vinyl murals throughout the building.
It is installed on the third floor of the Minneapolis Public Service Building on a glass wall that separates public space and nonpublic office space. The glass wall is both a physical divide and an opportunity to be a visual bridge between a city department and the public whom the city is accountable to serving.
“Used to be/going to be” ink on vinyl, 156″ x 117″ 2025
As government, we have a responsibility to undo and repair the harms done in the past (and not so past). – Ibtisam Brown (CPED Staff)
During my initial inquiry into the complex and layered work of CPED, I found this quote from a staff member to be compelling and significant. It assumes accountability on behalf of the government, and the people with positional power to carry out its core services, to reckon with our past and build towards a more just and equitable future for all.
It runs counter to what we are as citizens are experiencing today; surging authoritarianism, systematic erasure (scientific, historical, and cultural), and a unilateral return to policies that created the conditions of generational inequity that we witness and experience in our city and across the nation.
Depending on the day and whom you ask, the Government is “…doing too much” or “…not doing nearly enough.” And on some days or in certain situations, both might be true in the minds of the public. To me, this represents a unique contemporary challenge; how we develop alignment of shared goals that benefit all, and create a plan for achieving them, particularly in such radically changing and uncertain times?
