Ephemeral Conciliation: Community-Based Art and Redevelopment

The history of recognizing, acknowledging, and engaging with community in U.S. cities is troubled. This is especially true when cultural meaning is expressed by paint being applied to walls. Iconic murals such as the south side’s Wall of Respect in Chicago are exemplars of a community’s resistance to denigration and neglect. Yet while these representations remain vivid in local histories of place, their material presence is often fleeting. In this article, I suggest that in spite of a long and storied history, the mural, when rendered on private property as a form of cultural expression, is too often an ephemeral conciliation. The ephemeral quality of many of these murals does more to highlight the reality of a community’s neglect and powerlessness than to secure recognition and respect.