“Truth Be Told…” a new public art installation from Beyond Walls, aims to capture the experiences of Lynn children during a year of turmoil.
“I think that we’ve been able to capture what kids are going through,” said Al Wilson, the Founder and CEO of Beyond Walls, a Lynn group dedicated to building a sense of community through public art.
Beyond Walls worked with several community partners to compile a collection of artwork and stories that provide a snapshot into life as a youth in Lynn. This collection was shared with artists to inspire a series of murals.
Evoca1, a South Florida artist painting the mural on 170 Union St., used this inspiration to create his piece “Comforting Sounds,” which depicts a child immersed in playing a violin while beside him, two birds are released from a shattered vase.
“I wanted to paint something to show that although things might seem broken, a lot of times, things need to break in order for a positive outcome to come out of that,” said Evoca1.
Evoca1, who immigrated from the Dominican Republic at age 11, shifted from sports to art after college, and is now an internationally recognized painter.
“I’d focused my whole life on playing baseball,” he said. “After college, I quit baseball and started doing art. I wasn’t happy playing anymore and I wasn’t getting the same pleasure that I did out of my art. So I made a change.”
In total, the installation will include five murals on 170 Union St., 451 Broad St., at North Shore Community College, the Lynn YMCA and the Lynn Community Health Center.
It also includes several wheatpaste photography projects, which will be installed at multiple locations throughout the city.
The other artists involved in the “Truth Be Told…” project include Sheila Pree Bright, Golden, Percy Fortini Wright, Sen2, and collaborations with the groups Inside Out and Amplifier.
The artists are chosen by a committee of the Beyond Walls staff, volunteers, community members, and business owners.
The Inside Out project is a huge mural of photographs of Lynn youth portraits at the Lynn Community Health Center. The Amplifier project features over 100 COVID-related posters installed in different locations throughout town.
Percy Fortini Wright of Boston created a spray-paint nightscape of the Lynnway on a North Shore Community College wall, in what Wilson stated was the first public art installation at a state college campus in Massachusetts. Beyond Walls intends to install lighting in front of the image to display it at night.
“I consider myself a markmaker — a marksman, I guess,” said Wright, who studied oil painting along with graffiti art. “I really like the material of the spray paint to capture the ethereal quality of nightscapes.”
Golden, who got his start at street art as a kid in Venezuela, is working double-duty — designing a project at the YMCA while also assisting another Sen2 complete his project at the entrance to the Lynnway.
“I had a lot of jobs before this, so I’m handy with a lot of things,” he said. “So every time I go to a place to paint, I end up helping.”
Because of COVID-19, some aspects of the mural festival had to be altered this year. Rather than hosting social gatherings by the new installations, Beyond Walls has ramped up their social media outreach to allow Lynners to engage with the art.
“It’s been an interesting challenge,” said Julia Midland, a former program manager who has returned to help with social media during the festival. “But also a cool opportunity.”
