The day started with a morning service at the Historic King Solomon Baptist Church. As we walked in, we were greeted by an expansive echoing room and high ceilings. The room was sectioned off by drapes into the pew/service area, a conference or dinner space, and the Sunday school. Walking in, it’s hard not to wonder how the building’s changed since 1963 when Malcom X gave his “Message to the grass roots” address in the space, or when Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. visited just a week after his “I have a dream” speech in D.C. The service began with a series of songs, running seamlessly together. The room was led passionately by an older man who’s years of experience were evident, backed by three little girls no older than ten, each carrying their own, swaying to the beat and not missing a word. Young men accompanied on the drums, sound, and projector visuals, while the preacher played along on the piano. The joy of each song was met with waving hands and exclamations from the crowd. Our group clapped along and listened.
As explained by the preacher, Rev. Charles E. Williams, the King Solomon mission statement is: “Our mission at King Solomon is to revitalize the church, community, and spirit of God’s people that suffer from the devastation of global socio-economic inequality. Together as a congregation, we seek to empower and educate the lost and disenfranchised through the example set forth in the gospel of Jesus Christ.” As we listened to the sermon, the church’s entwinement with social justice was clear. There is no version of King Solomon that doesn’t have civil rights and the pursuit of social progress at its center. As Rev. Williams said, Detroit is the heartbeat of the country’s justice revolutions, and King Solomon is the heartbeat of Detroit. The topic of this week’s sermon was action- making a decision before it makes you. We were each motivated to reflect on our own driving heartbeats back in Portland, and how that gives life to our action. The Detroit motto, Speramus Meliora Resurget Cineribus (We hope for better things, It will rise from the ashes), is an embodied mantra lived by Detroit’s diverse neighborhoods. We saw this throughout our city mural tour with former Moreau Center staff, Irene. The rich history of displacement and socioeconomic inequality has bred strong communities with deep ties to both cultural institutions and geographic locations. Many times we see those cultural communities being displaced from their geographic locations through predatory loan practices and gentrification. Now what does it mean for those communities to reclaim those spaces, call attention to those struggles, and create hope for the future? To create system change, the culture of the system must change first. Sydney G James, like many other Detroit artists, works in shaping culture through public artworks and murals. The Girl with the D Earring is a mural located in New Central Detroit on E Grand Boulevard.
This mural serves as an embodiment of the themes seen throughout murals in Detroit. These themes involve Liberation, Joy, Regrowth, and recenter Black bodies, voices, and histories in public spaces. The Girl with the D Earring does this more literally by replicating The Girl with the Pearl Earring by Johannes Vermeer and replaces the original subject with a community member. This highlights the local businesses pushed out by gentrification, showcasing their logos and names on the sleeve’s patches.
Another example of this is The Spirit by Waleed Johnson, a work derivative of the statue “The Spirit of Detroit”. This reframes the Black experience as the future of Detroit, as depicted by the woman holding a representation of God, a pursuit to uphold and obtain closeness to the divine. While these are more concrete representations of the pursuit for a sustainable Black future, the Heidelberg Project tells a variation of the story through abstract artistic expression.
Built on the foundations of burnt buildings, the Heidelberg Project is an immersive experience that tells the story of a lost community. A community lost to inequality, the stories of these displaced individuals are told through the objects they left behind. The stories and significance of these repurposed objects creates a living collection of exhibits surrounded by the loose concept of time. Heidelberg serves as a push forward to achieve the future that the many other murals across Detroit advocate for; a future full of hope and respect for the past that allows for Black bodies to be the center of public space. A key part of that recentering is changing of culture, exemplified at Wall Park.
Initially used as a wall to mark segregation between Blacks and Whites, it is now the site of joyous murals that tell the history of the community. It has worked towards reshaping the culture surrounding that wall. While murals may not be the most active forms of resistance or cultural change, they have played a public role in changing the landscape of the city and amplifying the voices of change. These public artworks allow space for a change in culture to make decisions and eventually change systems.
– Fabian Barba and Shane Ruyle