Meet the Artists Behind the Park City Racial Equity Street Mural Project
(Images left to right: Bill Louis, Aljay Fuimaono, Mariella Mendoza, Roots Art Kollective, Solidarity Mural by Bill Louis, Black Lives Matter Mural by Aljay Fuimaono, Peace Unity Love Mural by Roots Art Kollective, Justicia Para Todos Mural by Mariella Mendoza)
Over the weekend, Park City Municipal worked with the Arts Council of Park City & Summit County on a temporary art mural project on Main Street that celebrates both diversity and the vibrant arts and culture in our community.
Starting early Saturday morning and over the course of the weekend, four Utah-based artists painted murals on Park City’s Main St. The artists were asked to respond with their artistic interpretation to produce a series of large scale street murals that addressed issues surrounding racial equity in light of the Black Lives Matter movement and recent nation-wide protests.
This project is one of several initiatives to support dialogue and conversation around the Community’s Social Equity Priority, which strives for equitable public administration of services, justice and social well-being for all.
We value and appreciate our differences and embrace our common humanity and contributions as the source of our town's strength.
We are proud to have worked with some incredible BIPOC artists on this project as they share their stories and their powerful messages surrounding social and racial equity with our community. Read all about the participating artists below:
Bill Louis
@biltslouisart
William M. Louis or Bill is the Artist behind BiltsLouisArt. Born in Suva on the island of Fiji, Bill’s artistic talents and inspirations are multifaceted akin to his diverse cultural heritage.
His father is Fijian, Samoan and German and his mother is from the island of Tonga in Vava’u. At only 1 year old, he migrated with his mother and two of his five siblings to the US in 1984. Growing up in Reno, NV, Bill has lived in various cities including Seattle and SaFrancisco, before moving to Salt Lake City in 2011
Pursuing a passion for the arts from an early age, his stylistic influences pay homage to an experience of surveying vibrant topographies and adapting to changing cultural landscapes, while remaining dedicated to his family and a Polynesian culture rich with tradition. Cultivating a visual language of his own, Bill’s influences cull from West Coast Graffiti art to early con- temporary masters such as Salvador Dali, Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin. His street art influences are Revok, Banksy, Shepard Fairey, and Mr. G. Many of Bill’s recent work have been inspired by digital and cultural art as well.
Bill specializes in a variety of mediums including Acrylic and Oil Paints, Watercolor, ink, aerosol, sculpture, Music production and Digital Graphic arts. Bill has been a featured artist in many galleries that have showed at UMOCA, Studio Elevn and Impact Hub. He has worked on many projects across the Wasatch front, and has collaborated with many street artists from Los Angeles to London.
His latest work comprises a combination of his Polynesian culture, graffiti and family.
Bill hopes that his art can influence others to use their creative side and to utilize their talents to inspire individuals of all walks of life. Art can be very therapeutic and can help heal people in various ways. Bill would like to help create a pathway for emerging Polynesian artists as well as all creators to leverage their passion for art to make a difference in their communities.
Aljay Fuimaono
@manusina_art
Utah based artist, Aljay Fuimaono is emerging in the art world with a fresh take on Polynesian cultural fine art. The contemporary styled artist enjoys incorporating realism and abstract styles with rich colors and sketch-like strokes to create striking imagery with underlying cultural themes.
Exploration of textures and acrylic paints has led to his signature use of wood and bark as a canvas. The natural material creates a platform that pays tribute to his ancestral heritage; anchoring the indigenously progressive images in the unfailing values of the past.
Born in Samoa and raised between Samoa and Hawaii, the subject of his work is heavily influenced by his upbringing. Fuimaono credits his parents for instilling a need to preserve, portray, and perpetuate Polynesian cultural values through art.
By creating impactful images that emote familial and island life themes, he is able to portray common threads in the fabric of society through a Pacific Islander lens.
Mariella Mendoza
@kuruchitx
Mariella Mendoza is an undocumented artist, and writer; born and raised in Lima, Peru, but currently living on occupied Shoshone territory: Salt Lake City, Utah.
Their work centers on their own personal experiences of queerness, migration, nostalgia, and healing; through the intersectional lens of transformative justice. Using bright colors (reminiscent of their South-American roots) and brown skin, Mendoza’s artwork explores themes of liberation, and home, in murals, and often in printmaking.
Community taught, and proud of it, they have had the honor and privilege to partner up with community leaders and local organizations such as the Rape Recovery Center, the University of Utah, the Utah Pride Center, and the Utah Division of Arts and Museums to name a few. Their murals have given recognition to critical community issues, including indigenous sovereignty, migrant rights, and LGBTQIA+ visibility; while continuing to bridge the local narratives of the community, through ongoing work within the four-corners region.
Their essays delve into the complex relationships between migrant and indigenous communi- ties of the North and South, via gatherings and ceremonies, and have been featured in national publications such as Everyday Feminism, The Icarus Project, and Black Girl Dangerous.
As a community organizer, Ella’s work has marched on the streets of New York City, and Standing Rock; most recently as one of eight featured artists on the 2017 People’s Climate March, in Washington DC. As a cultural educator, they are one of the co-founders of Nopalera Artist Collective; Utah’s first artist collective by people of color, for people of color; whose work centers on the cultural resistance within the Salt Lake Valley.
Roots Art Kollective
@therak.801
The Roots Art Kollective is a group of artists with lived experience and commitment to the Westside of Salt Lake City. Their mission is to expand public art to create a colorful environ- ment that allows people to learn about the cultures that enrich our communities. They feel that they live in a time where the human spirit des- perately needs to be seen and felt, and they believe that using art can redefine the cultural space that they embody using symbols, calligraphy, colors, and traditional patterns as ways to represent the cultural quilt of Salt Lake City.
Their diverse professional backgrounds in art teaching, graphic design and biology compliment the collective to uniquely interpret Street Art. As a collective, their experiences range from facilitating large community projects to public and private commissions.
They have partnered with local businesses, homeowners and the community council in order to create murals in spaces to discourage vandalism. As a result, these murals’ enduring presence have become respected landmarks in the community.
The Arts Council knows that art connects us. Art Inspires us. Art serves as a platform to communicate. Art is a mode for self expression. Art demands curiosity. Art can move us emotionally and intellectually. Art helps us gain new perspectives, as it illustrates the human experience, allowing us to understand each other better. These murals aim to do exactly that.
Our mission is to serve our Arts & Culture community by driving creative programming, providing valuable resources, and cultivating connections. We envision a community where Arts and Culture is critical, where creatives thrive, and where all people connect through Arts and Culture.