Reach for Peace

Reach for Peace by artist Pauline Houston McCall was located in the Mantua neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural features figures surrounded by doves, symbols of peace, within a lush landscape full of dense vegetation and beautiful flowers. In the center of the image, the landscape shifts to two figures atop a mountain holding the white birds and set against a dramatic sunrise/sunset. This central image is surrounded by an archway created from tiles made by local youth during a workshop at the nearby Morton McMichael School. Students were asked to create drawings depicting what peace meant to them onto colorful tiles which were later incorporated into the mural’s composition. The mural becomes a rendering of the perceptions of peace as seen through children from the surrounding community.
Location Note: Portions of the mural are still visible at the location, but view was obscured because of new construction on formerly vacant adjacent lot in 2010.