Guardian of an Eden Regained

The goal of Guardian of an Eden Regained by artist Eliseo Art Silva was located in the Hartranft neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was originally painted to emphasize immunization awareness. The City of Philadelphia’s Department of Health demographic data indicated that parents in the surrounding neighborhood often delayed immunizing their children in preparation for elementary school enrollment.

The central part of this mural includes transcultural images featuring Puerto Rican, African, and Asian peoples involved in building homes, farming, harvesting, and festive celebrations symbolizing the collective spirit, life, and “health” of a community. It is surrounded by an environment that represents death, decay, pain, and “sickness” embodied in the desolate landscape populated by the spectacle of slaughtered fish and ruined relics. Between “health” and “sickness” is an ever-expanding fabric containing a figure about to wear a festival mask: a “Guardian” now becoming part of a world that gives life and strength – “an Eden regained.”

The mural is one of four projects about health topics sponsored by GlaxoSmithKline. Others include an asthma awareness mural in South Philadelphia (Spring 2005), a nutrition mural (in Norris Square/New Kensington) and an anti-drug mural (in Strawberry Mansion). The location of these murals was based on demographic data (South Philadelphia has the highest asthma diagnosis rates for youth from birth to 18 of any area in the city, for example).

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (removed ca. 2013).