Public Art Archive. Online. 2021.
This digital exhibition and project archive tells the story of This We Believe: Living in the Presence of History (2008-2009), a large, multi-panel mural by Eric Okdeh, Michelle Angela Ortiz, and Kien Nguyen. The mural was created as a highly collaborative Citywide project that Mural Arts Philadelphia organized to mark its 25th anniversary.
After being displayed temporarily and with much celebration at prominent locations, the panels were to be separated and installed individually throughout the city. But project leaders were only able to secure a long-term home for one panel. Even so, the mural and the process through which it was made are significant to Mural Arts’ history, the public envisioning of place in Philadelphia, and the history of muralism in the United States.
Curated by Laura Holzman in collaboration with Mural Arts Philadelphia and the Public Art Archive.