The Fifth Avenue Committee and Groundswell Community Mural Project unveiled a large-scale mural titled "The Heartbeat of Gowanus" on FAC's Center for Community Development facade. Lead artists Kristy McCarthy and Yolande Delius collaborated with 13 youth artists from Groundswell's Voices Her'd Visionaries program, local leaders, and neighborhood residents. The mural pays tribute to the resilience and advocacy of Gowanus organizers and residents who shaped the neighborhood through decades of struggle and transformation. The work resulted from months of research, interviews, a community listening session, and on-the-street interviews. FAC and Groundswell framed the mural as a collective vision for equity, solidarity, sustainability, and justice, especially highlighting women and youth leadership.
Over the 21 years that the prior mural was here and then to today, this neighborhood has gone through so many transformations and transitions and obviously we're at another moment of transformation for Gowanus,
When your reflections are grounded in history, when your reflections are grounded in values, when your reflections are grounded in what you want the community to be, and then you're directly in communication with local leaders ... that's very, very powerful.
This mural stands as a powerful reflection of the environmental and social justice struggles faced by the Gowanus community and of the resilience and leadership, especially of women and youth, that continue to shape a more just future,
It's more than a mural, it's a collected vision for equity, solidarity and sustainability brought to life by the community itself.
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