Artistry in Service of a Gun-Free Brooklyn

Our sister project, the Crown Heights Community Mediation Center, has just posted pictures of a stunning mural that promotes peace in Central Brooklyn. An area ravaged by the gun trade and its resulting violence, Crown Heights has recently been selected for federal funding to initiate a "Ceasefire" program targeting violent offenders, building community collaboration, and bringing guns off the streets. This mural is a powerful representation not only of a deep-seated will to see the violence end, but also the variety of great talents (artistic and otherwise) that this community will marshall to address gun violence.

As their website indicates, the mural is painted on the side of a school across from the Brooklyn Children's Museum, and was and painted by sixteen youth artists and two adult painters over the summer. This piece of public art is a product of collaboration between the Mediation Center, the American Friends Service Committee, New Yorkers Against Gun Violence, Groundswell Community Mural Project, Assemblyman Karim Camara, and the Damon S. Allen Foundation.

Here are some photos of the details, as they are intricate, lovely, and thought-provoking. See all the pictures here.