SALEM — The city has spoken, and the 2021 Mural Slam People’s Choice Award has been awarded to Zhonghe (Elena) Li for her mural, entitled “Being One With Earth.”
Li edged out 11 other competitors who painted along artists row from June 4 through 6. Her creation, which features elements of nature and animal life, triumphed in a year where the competition received a record 1,000-plus votes to tally.
The Mural Slam, put on annually as a part of the Salem Arts Festival, is made possible through collaboration with the city’s Public Art Commission, Salem Main Streets and the Creative Collective. During the festival, murals from participants lined the buildings along the streets of Artists’ Row (24 Derby St.).
Li said that, as an artist, she has drawn much of her motivation from her love for nature’s diversity coupled with her profound concern of the environment and the intertwined future of both plants and wildlife.
Li’s motivations are clearly reflected in her piece, which prominently features two passenger pigeons — a species that went extinct 100 years ago — positioned in a circle.
The circle symbolizes a “cycle,” said Li, who added that the piece, as a whole, represents the Earth.
More of Li’s work can be viewed at her website https://wildcraneblog.wordpress.com, her instagram @hehe.li or her YouTube channel, wildcraneart.
