Murals pay homage to slain TV character
Fans of Orange Is The New Black could do a double take this week in several large cities around the world: A familiar face may be looking back at them.
Netflix has commissioned artists in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit, Toronto, San Francisco, Sydney and Melbourne to paint murals of character Poussey Washington as both a tribute to her and a tease for the upcoming fifth season of the prison series, which starts June 9.
Washington, an inmate portrayed by actress Samira Wiley, was a fan favourite whose sudden death at the hands of corrections officers at the end of the fourth season stunned many. Netflix wanted to honour her with a portrait and the slogan: “Stand Up.”
“I want to do the character justice and do the show justice because I think they have so many strong messages that are really relevant today,” said Detroit artist Michelle Tanguay.
Her hand-painted portrait stands 24-by-25 feet and was painted on a brick wall at the corner of Detroit’s Broadway Street and Grand River Avenue.
Netflix joins other companies in embracing old-school, hand-painted billboards in this digital age to get their messages out, including McDonald’s, Adidas, Ubisoft and Jack Daniels. Such murals in the past have honoured civil rights leaders or victims of street violence, a history Netflix has tapped with the portraits of Washington.
Wiley, who now stars in Hulu’s series The Handmaid’s Tale, said she was deeply honoured to have her character immortalized and also proud that it makes a nod to the recent cases of African-Americans killed in police custody.