The Mural Arts Program made an announcement about several items yesterday regarding the year-long The Roots Mural Project. It will tell the story of The Roots – focusing on founding members Ahmir “?uestlove” Thompson and Tariq “Black Thought” Trotter – from the start of it all to the present day. The Mural Arts Program officially announced that the mural will be located on 6th and South St. (but we already knew that). After a national open call for artists, the program selected a group of Philly muralists to create The Roots Mural Project. The artistic team will be known as the Amber Design Collective featuring Tatyana Fazlalizadeh, and will also include David Guinn, Ernel Martinez, Charles Barbin, Willis Humphrey, and Keir Johnston. Individually, these artists have each created murals for the program, but this project will be their first collaboration together.
Details Shared About The Roots Mural Project
“The first meeting with the artists was amazing; we shared ideas of what the final mural could end up looking like. It’s beyond anything Tariq and I ever dreamed of,” said ?uestlove. “And to have it along South Street, near the same corners we were kicked off of for playing our music is fantastic.”
A part of the project that looks really interesting is an education program called “The Roots 101.” “The Mural Arts Program’s Art Education Department partners with a diverse group of schools, social service agencies, nonprofit, and municipal organizations to provide free innovative art programming for young people. Passionate teaching artists lead classes twice a week at sites across the city. The Roots Mural Project is rooted in engaging and empowering students to tell their stories through various medium, including drawing, photography, collage, and more. The artist team will conduct workshops with students to ascertain their areas of interest and design concepts for the mural and incorporate their ideas into the mural design. In addition, students will be part of the project programming, as attendees and, in some instances, panelists.”
?uestlove and Black Thought weren’t able to make it for the announcement so they sent the video message below and The Roots’ bassist Leonard “Hub” Hubbard. (Photo by Chad Griffith)