Mural provides reminders as Black History Month closes
Jay Hero aimed to spark conversation, send message
Artist Jay Hero provides an overriding positive message of Black power and hope, pays homage to inspirational figures and exposes white supremacy in his mural at the Anton Art Center in Mount Clemens.
Hero, 32, a Southfield resident who formerly lived in Mount Clemens, talked about the mural, “Power,” which was unveiled in November 2022, as Black History Month closes this week.
Hero collaborated with the Anton Art Center’s Inclusivity, Diversity, Equity, and Access Council in creating the piece.
“They didn’t want something that played it safe,” he said. “I wanted it to spark conversation, send a powerful message.”
Hero said he also sought to make a “layered” work in which an observer “can learn something new every time you look at it.”
“I hope this mural provides a little clarity that says, despite our struggles and our pain, we are still powerful together. Our joy and our power are connected,” he said of his goal for Blacks.
The mural’s central figure is a girl named “Kiyana,” whose presence overshadows several adult images in the work. Kiyana gazes downward, reacting to a crystal ball she’s cradling.
“She represents the future and the idea of legacy,” Hero said. “She is smiling at her future and her future potential. A lot of change is going to come in the future, and the future is with the children.”
The mural exalts the emancipation of Blacks from slavery with the words, “Here We Stand. Millions emancipated. Lights showing us the way.”
It includes the faces of unknown people involved in protests, uprisings and
“civil unrest” as well as four now-deceased historical or cultural leaders — two of them Black and two of them Native Americans. Hero said he wanted to tie together those two communities’ commonality — the struggle of Black and indigenous Americans, and gay people; one of the figures is gay-rights activist, Martha P. Johnson.
“A lot of our pain is connected,” Hero said. “Once we acknowledge that we can undo the trauma that has been thrust upon us.”
Others depicted in the mural include the famous Black author Toni Morrison, and two Native American activists: Waunetta McClellan Dominic of the Odawa (also Ottawa) Tribe who fought for reparations and is in the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, and Andrew J. Blackbird, an influential leader for the Odawa in the 19th Century and Michigan resident.
A blackbird in the mural “provides additional context” to Blackbird, and two butterflies that flank Kiyana “symbolize our honorable ancestors,” Hero said.
Dominic’s and Blackbird’s images are located in the bottom corners of the mural.
Underneath Kiyana’s hands holding the crystal ball are a burning church steeple and across, with bloodied white hands emerging from the steeple’s sides, as a “deconstruction of white supremacy,” Hero said. The images refer to the face the Christian
church for many years supported and benefited form slavery and white supremacy.
“Maybe this mural will help people, especially those in power and privilege, question themselves,” he said.
The mural has drawn mostly positive reactions from the community, said Peggy DiMercurio, the Anton Center’s interim director and education and community engagement manager.
“People have been receptive, overwhelmingly so,” DiMercurio said.
The mural is part of tours that Art Center provides at which many people comment positively and especially like the additional color added to the area’s landscape.
The mural is accompanied by a poem, “Silence is a Sound,” written by jessica Care moore. A framed copy of the mural and poem are on display inside the Art Center.
During a Black History Month event last year at the Anton Center, the poem was read aloud by a group of Black women, each of whom recited a line, in cooperation with The Interfaith Center for Racial Justice.
When the mural was unveiled three months earlier, then-executive director Phil Gilchrist said it “represents an acknowledgment of the importance of all members of our community, and positive change toward inclusion and equity
in the arts.”
Hero’s given name is Jermaine Dickerson. A fan of super heroes, he changed it as “a call to action for me to be in line with my best self. I call it the ‘hero self.’”
Hero moved from Detroit to Mount Clemens when he was 11 and attended Arts Academy in the Woods in Fraser. He earned a fine arts degree at Eastern Michigan University. In 2016, Hero was commissioned by the city of Ypsilanti to create a mural at City Hall.
Hero, who is an illustrator and graphic designer by trade, operates Jay Hero Studio, accepting commissioners and creating works that he sells on his web site. Many of his works feature heroic, strong and beautiful female figures. One recent work is called a “Palestine-Wonder Woman,” saying on his Facebook page he “feels the urge to raise our voices and be advocates for the Palestinian people and all oppressed people around the world.”
Although Hero is trained in traditional mediums, he works almost exclusively in digital due to its versatility, he said.
“You can do it on your iPad or even your phone,” he said.
Also a fan of comic books and their heroes, he said he recently started working on his first graphic novel that will feature a strong Black woman.
Jay Hero Studio’s Facebook page is facebook.com/ imjayhero