SOUND THE RAINBOW (2023)
In partnership with City of Newark Division of arts and culture affair, equal space, and Project for Empty space

Location: Treat Place, Newark | Phase III | Photo Credit: Rachel Fawn Alban

In partnership with the City of Newark Division of Arts and Cultural Affairs, Equal Space, and Project For Empty Space, this artwork was created as part of a multi-site Pride public art activation and call to action, Sound the Rainbow! (2023).

Sound the Rainbow! was created in response to our contemporary moment across the United States. One in which social conservativism and hatred are spreading at a rapid pace. This is seen most acutely in overturning legislation that protects reproductive and gender-affirming healthcare and threatens the rights of LGBTQIA+ people. This past week, SCOTUS determined that businesses may refuse “expressive services” to same-sex couples or LGBTQIA+ people based on their own discernment. This reality is everywhere, including in our own communities.

These recent events will impact millions of Americans’ human rights. This program is a way, in the face of discrimination, to rise and resist. The mural, completed today, is a public statement- vowing to protect and uplift each other, not behind closed doors or in private, but loud and proud. Because each and every person, every Newarker, deserves to be seen.