Overflowing Parking

Blue Sky, American, born 1938

Overflowing Parking, 1978 and 2019

Being considered one of the most iconic murals in Flint, “Overflowing Parking” was originally painted on the old Flint Journal building by Blue Sky in 1978. Sky was fascinated by the cars in Flint and the beauty of parking lots. He described cars as the jewels of the land, with “different color, sparkling in the sun.” Due to the fragile nature of the original surface, the mural started to peel off only a few years after being done. The restoration was done by Stephen Heddy, of Artistic Decorating, a Flint-local interior design company. The restoration stirred up an intense discussion around the city. People would come by to talk to Heddy about the restoration and express their impatience for this Flint icon to come back to life. Label by Yifei He

Bridge over Flint 8

Matthew Brandt, American, born 1982

Bridge over Flint 8, 2016

This photograph is part of American photographer Matthew Brandt’s “Bridges Over Flint” project in which Brandt developed the photographs using a solution that includes Flint, Michigan, tap water. His series incorporates photographs of numerous locations around Flint in black and white developed with the tap water solution. As a result of the lead and other toxins in Flint’s water, the image is distorted through the development process. This mirrors the way in which the people of Flint are also affected—developed—by their interactions with the water and the deleterious effects it has had (and continues to have) on their health as well as the city more broadly. It seems significant to me that the photographs are of bridges in particular as they one remind me of Pauli’s reflection(s) on how he tried to build bridges within the Flint community and the ways that bridges serve as infrastructural linkages between potentially disparate populations. Label by Jay Jolles

Developed using lead-contaminated tap water from the photographed location of Flint, Michigan, Matthew Brandt’s Bridge Over Flint 24 shows a nearly unidentifiable bridge across a small river with trees on the embankments on either side. The distortion of the photo and it’s edges is intense, looking almost as though it was singed in a fire. Rather than flames, though, the photo’s visual corruption comes from the byproduct of Flint’s own political corruption: residential water so contaminated with lead as to be completely unsafe and unusable. By employing the invisible danger in his work, Brandt makes visible, quite literally, the destructive nature of lead. Label by Lia Deasy

Flint Fresh

Nomad Clan, British

Kevin Burdick, American, born 1985

This piece was commissioned by the Flint Public Art Project, partnering with Flint Fresh, an organization that runs eleven food hubs to act as a local kind of grocery store for the people of Genesee County. It is Flint Fresh who hosts the mural within one of their hubs. Nomad Clan are a duo of street artists that have been involved in several social justice projects, and Kevin Burdick is a Flint native experienced in multiple mediums of art. The piece itself shows a quintessential cornucopia of produce accompanied by the words “Flint Fresh”, and so on one level it is a kind of advertisement for Flint Fresh. On another level this piece speaks to showing how Flint is a “fresh”  and healthy city, not just in spite of disasters like lead-poisoned drinking water, but because of the activist’s drive for local self-determination in the face of such disasters as is also represented by Flint Fresh’s goal of forming a local network between farmers, distributors, and the people of Flint. Label by Frank Kennedy

Lead Exposure Series

Gretchen Pruett, American, born 1987

Lead Exposure Series, 2016

Gretchen Pruett’s watercolor paintings were a part of an exhibit at the Buckham Gallery, which featured local artists from Flint, Michigan, and their artistic expressions surrounding the water crisis. The Buckham Gallery is a non-profit organization that supports the local art community in Flint. Pruett’s paintings feature images of body parts that have been affected by the lead in the local water. As a model for the images, she used original medical imaging from residents, and her backlit watercolor paintings are realistic expressions of this imaging. The main purpose of choosing such a subject was to bring awareness to the dangerous side effects residents have suffered from the lead poisoned water and demonstrating how critical it is that Flint residents have access to stronger medical relief and protection. Label by Maeve Marsh