‘YOUR VOTE MATTERS’
Mural aims to engage young voters, community
A pair of Southfield artists and entrepreneurs have completed a new mural in Pontiac aimed at engaging young voters and the community in the upcoming election.
The project was supported by the American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan in conjunction with the Detroit-based gallery and arts publisher 1xRUN. Rick and Yolanda Williams, a married couple from Southfield and founders of a brand development agency Distinct Life, were tapped to paint the Pontiac mural. Four other murals were also painted in Benton Harbor, Detroit, Highland Park and Grand Rapids by local artists.
“This is all about inspiring people, and everyone has that job, to inspire others and live our lives in a way that can make other people want to elevate their surroundings and community,” Rick Williams said.
The wall, located at 263 Auburn Ave. on the side of a Dollar Paradise store, was covered in graffiti when the couple first arrived. Three days after the start of the mural, someone had come
by and covered all of it up with fresh paint.
“That’s an example of someone being inspired to beautify their own neighborhood,” Rick Wil
liams said.
It’s the pair’s fourth mural to be completed in Michigan, with two others in Detroit.
Roula David, vice president of 1XRUN, was an
early supporter of Distinct Life, according to the couple. Their brand launched in 2016 and has since expanded to include skin care products, juice and collaborations with the major shoe brand Puma. The whole reason Rick Williams learned how to create murals, he said, came about from the encouragement David gave
to spread the brand’s message of progress and hope.
“In the work we’ve been doing as organizers with artists over the years, we’ve seen the transformative power that public murals have to activate new conversations and build a sense of community, to get people invested and involved,” David, who is also the founder
and executive director of the annual ‘ Murals in the Market’ festival in Detroit, said. “It’s a natural extension of our work to focus the drive and creativity of artists to push forward the ACLU’s mission to make sure that voters across Michigan are able to make their voices heard in this election.”