‘Black History Matters’ mural ‘special, powerful’
Art project on arena features Suns, Mercury
Community activist Gizelle Knight’s first reaction was unfiltered, raw emotion.
“I said, ‘Oh damn, this is bad ass,’” she said laughing. “Chris Paul, did you see his blue? That blue, it just like pops. They just look so realistic and you got the people behind them marching. It made me feel like it captured the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement.”
Paul was impressed, too.
“It’s pretty special and powerful,” he said.
As part of ‘Black History Matters’ mural project celebrating 28 days of Black History Month, artist Antho
ny Farias led a team that created a 20by-60-foot mural on Phoenix Suns Arena featuring Mercury players Brianna Turner and Skylar Diggins-Smith, Suns coach Monty Williams and guards Jevon Carter and Paul.
The Suns/Mercury mural is among 28 that were created around central Phoenix as part of the project.
“For me to be a part of something like that is pretty cool,” Williams said. “My kids actually got a chance to see it. For me, it’s a way to not only remember the history of African-American people in our country and around the world, but to also honor the people that stood up for me, Black and White and Brown.”
Located on the West side of the arena at First and Jefferson streets, the mural has Paul, Carter, Williams, Turner and Diggins-Smith at the forefront with people marching behind them with city buildings and mountains in the background.
“We had about 2,000 people behind us,’” said Knight, reliving ‘Black Lives Matter’ marches in Phoenix. “It reminded us of when we did our Unity march. It was amazing to see that.”
‘Beautifully done’
The project took between 40 to 60 hours over the course of three days after unusual rain delayed the start that led to working day and night to meet a deadline to showcase the mural on social media platforms, Farias said.
“It was like running a marathon,” he laughed.
Paul, Carter, Williams, Turner and Diggins-Smith were painted wearing gear showing support for the movement and advancement of AfricanAmericans.
Paul’s light blue sweatshirt – Black Colleges.
Carter’s sweatshirt – Black Power, Black Hope, Black Pain, Black Death, Black Tears, Black Lives Matter.
Williams’ pin – Coaches for Racial
Justice.
Diggins-Smith’s tee – Say Her
Name.
Turner’s tee – Black Lives Matter. “I’m truly honored to be on a mural, especially a part of Black history,” Carter said.
Farias said Chris Grasha, creative lead of Suns graphics department, provided the design on 81⁄2-by-11 paper his team turned into a larger than life inspirational piece of art.
“The mural was beautifully done,” Turner said. “I knew beforehand that I would be on it, but I had no clue it would be hand painted.”
The mural also is a reminder more work needs to be done.
Like the message “Can’t Give Up Now,” headlining the mural, the call for social justice and racial equality remains loud and clear.
“I want to get to a point where people are not dedicating their lives towards social justice/racial equality,” Turner said.
“I know it won’t happen in my lifetime, but I hope 100 years from now that equality is the norm. Currently, I think we need to hold our friends and family accountable for their words and actions. If you see something that isn’t right, you should say something. Everyone has the ability to make an impact.”
‘Let’s go with that’
Knight’s relationship with the Suns ultimately led to the mural.
“When I was doing the marches and the protests and the rallies, they wanted to help out,” said Knight, CEO of Reality Dreams.
So when coming up with the concept of having 28 murals for the 28 days of Black History Month in February, Knight contacted the franchise with a mural idea possibly featuring Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Kobe Bryant.
The Suns had a different vision. “They said they would like to showcase the ‘Black Lives Matter’ movement because a lot of their players were vocal,” she said. “That sounded even better, so let’s go with that.”
Once in agreement, Knight looked for an artist with mural experience.
Farias, who is better known as ‘Eli’, was the ideal choice.
“I just knew he was right one for this project,” Knight said.
An artist for about 15 years in the Valley, the 29-year-old Farias has done multiple murals, chalk drawings and paintings. Farias said he was always drawing and doodling in class as a kid, but started taking art seriously at Moon Valley High.
“I was inspired by my older brother,” Farias said about his brother, Andrew. “He was making artwork. So that was a great inspiration for me to want to do as well cause he was doing it and we started to compete.”
‘Great opportunity’
Farias also credited his art teacher, Art Smith, for pushing him to pursue this passion.
“This what I want to do the rest of my life,” he said. “I want to go and inspire people, I want to motivate people, I want to paint positive imagery and just make the world a better place with whatever I can do.”
Also having a grandmother who he said did silk screening in downtown Phoenix, he had the foundation and experience to pull off a motivational mural such as this.
Farias was certainly up the for the challenge, but needed assistance.
Enter local artists Lucrieta Torva, Melanie Nicole and Alisia Malta.
They came together to make it happen. Farias said they stayed in contact during the rain delay to determine how to proceed once the weather cleared to stay on deadline.
“My part was just the team building and motivating the team and pretty much encouraging them,” he said. “We need to move forward, not backward. We’ve got a great opportunity.”
Farias credited Torva for setting up the grid and doing early artwork. They painted all day Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 before finishing up on time Feb. 2.
“It was a wild ride, but it came together,” he said.
‘Victory point’
Farias said he pulled an “all nighter” one of the days as they had flood lights to assist.
“I was out there until like 12:30 at night,” he said. “Go home, come back at like 8 o’clock the next day and then work another 10-hour shift. It was intense.”
They also had bought food from Fry’s as well as frequented downtown restaurants for nourishment during those long hours.
“We were just snacking and caffeinated all day,” he said.
Farias said Suns reps came out during the process to chat and offer feedback. Once the front was completed and they began working on the mural background that Tuesday, Farias started seeing the finished product coming together.
“We could erase the chalk,” he said. “We no longer needed the grids to figure out where everything is. So honestly, that’s like the victory point.”
Farias hopes the mural inspires people to use their power and appreciate others.
“Hopefully we can create a better dialogue in regards to these are some of our heroes that are still living,” he said.
“We need to celebrate some of these people who are making movements and making the opportunities for the rest of us.”