The Colors of Queens: Murals unveiled at Queens Family Court
/
Student artists stand with the “Celebration” mural along with Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson and Queens Family Court Supervising Judge Gilbert Taylor. Eagle Photo by Ryan Schwach
By Ryan Schwach
Four murals, each depicting the colors and diversity of Queens and painted by local high school students, were unveiled on Tuesday at Queens Family Court in Jamaica.
Painted by local teens who participated in a public art youth employment program, the paintings display images of the World’s Borough’s vivid culture and are part of a continuing effort to push diversity and inclusion in the courts.
“This is justice in action,” said Judge Edwina Richardson-Mendelson, Deputy Chief Administrative Judge for Justice Initiatives in New York State. “This came out about equal justice endeavors, courts and community outreach to young people creating art that permanently enhance the Queens Family Court. My heart is just so delighted.”
“I'm so proud of the young people who all came and interviewed all of us and came up with remarkable artwork with the help of the adults and the artists,” she added.
The murals were facilitated through the Creative Art Works, a New York City-based art non-profit, and their public art youth employment program. This summer, the program enlisted city high school students – aided by teaching artists – to paint seven public art installations across the city, including the murals that now reside at Queens Family Court.
Over the course of six weeks, the 28 students split into teams to research, design and finally paint their individual murals.
“The first two weeks are just getting comfortable getting to know each other doing interviews with the client, two weeks of developing sketches and presenting it,” said Ryan Davis, one of the adult teaching artists. “Then the last two weeks is painting the mural, so they really only have two weeks to do all of this in terms of painting.”
Davis says that it is a process, but it eventually pays off.
“Once you get them to kind of buy into the process, they start developing their own ideas,” he said. “They really take those ideas, do a lot of research, find images related to it, and develop something cohesive, something that people can recognize.”
The program's partnership with Queens Family Court – as well as the Bronx Family Court – are examples of the court system’s efforts to bring more justice and inclusion into the court, as well as make the court experience more positive for visiting litigants.
“You guys have done great work, we're very excited to see it, we're happy to have it,” said Gilbert Taylor, Supervising Judge of Queens Family Court. “We do know that art and culture can be powerful tools in promoting social justice, and creating a more equitable and just society.”
Taylor, who was born in Queens, said that these murals can potentially provide a colorful respite from the stress for litigants who are coming to family court.
“People come here with nothing but court business on their mind, and now because of what you've done, they can actually leave feeling a bit more inspired by the murals that they'll be able to see on our floors,” he said. “Now they have something else that they can look at, something else that they can actually focus on, instead of the stress, sometimes the fear, sometimes tension, sometimes the worry that they bring with themselves here because of why they're coming here.”
THE MURALS
The four murals depict different scenes that show Queens’ culture and diversity.
Students artists and the “Birds Eye View” mural. Eagle Photo by Ryan Schwach
The “Bird’s Eye View” mural, shows a vibrant and colorful park scene, with the Unisphere, a rainbow and the Rufus King House from the nearby Rufus King Park in Jamaica, all with the foreground of birds watching from above.
“Queens is a sort of park, it's a place where everybody of all kinds can get together and kind of just enjoy themselves and live their lives,” said Fahad Chowdury, a Stuyvesant High School student who worked on the mural.“We really kind of thrived and kind of got into all the minor details. Just putting it all together and having fun, It was great.”
Chowdury’s teammates said it was a rewarding experience and they learned a lot from the research and the process.
“I did think that we learned a lot from it, not only about how to work on a team, as a whole, but also just the technical skills that we learned, and just the experience of painting,” said Richmond High School graduate, and soon to be Queens College student Kael Michael. “There was a big learning curve, and we drove through it.”
“I think we will all miss hopefully these long lasting memories, which for me is a source of enjoyment and happiness,” said their teammate, Mehakpreet Kaur.
The “Unisphere” Mural . Eagle Photo by Ryan Schwach
The “Unisphere” mural showed a diverse group of people holding hands around the symbol of the World’s Borough, The Unisphere.
“We wanted to include community and togetherness in our mural,” said 18-year-old senior, Ayesha Mamun. “We also wanted to use a Queens' landmark, which was the Unisphere, and we showed Diversity and Community using a multitude of figures…people from different ethnicity, race, gender and color.”
Ariana Tucker, a Jamaica local, spoke of putting it all together to create the mural, and called it a learning process.
“We all played an important part in creating the actual designs, and the last day working together and bringing your ideas together to come up with something everyone's going to enjoy,” she said.
The “Celebration” Mural . Eagle Photo by Ryan Schwach
The “Celebration” mural depicts Queens Family Court itself.
“We intended to convey a celebration, an adoption, or reunification of sorts,” said Queens local Alexandra Kikolski, although she said it is left up to interpretation.
“We use lots of bright colors, especially at the foreground to demonstrate the joy that this community faces when exposed to any accomplishment that this courthouse creates,” she said.
Her teammate, Valerie Vergara, said she loved the working environment.
“I loved the welcoming atmosphere that has been created,” she said. “During the time we spent together I believe we were all equally invested into creating something that we can all be proud of.”
The “Light in the Darkness” Mural. Eagle Photo by Ryan Schwach
Lastly, the students presented the “Light in the Darkness” mural, which depicts a lesbian couple and their daughter at the park with the Queensborough Bridge, the city skyline and fireworks in the background.
“We wanted to express the diversity and inclusivity that Queens Family Court offers through the essence of family dynamics,” said Junying Tong. “You can see that they're radiating with love and unity.“
Another youth painter, Isabelle Shentu, said that there was much discussion over the shade of green used for the grass in the painting.
“Surprisingly, there were many opposing opinions, including the color of the grass, the texture and how many layers you're gonna put into the painting,” she said. “But in the end, we managed to pull through. I'd like to believe that everyone in my group is more than relieved that we don’t have to stare at 20 different shades of green anymore.”
The student’s work is now permanently enshrined on the third and fourth floors of Queens Family Court.
