Light of Day

Light of Day by artist Paul Santoleri

The imagery in the mural revolves around the idea of changes and the bridges that bring us together. More specifically, it depicts the community of the Zoo and its relationship by way of a bridge (the mural) to the community of Mantua. The two spans of the bridge face east and west, and in the center of these, at the apex of the curve, is an image of the sun, made in glass mosaic, setting and rising; for this is the change that brings us all together, and the presence of the sun gives us light, its movement inspires us to action – to get up and start the day, it gives us color, and it also keeps all of us – animals , humans, micro-organisms, etc. – alive through its warmth.

Each section is an arc coming from the sunlight and the images are about change and movement. Around the sun are the whirling galaxies, our neighbors in outer space, followed by the protozoa, also our neighbors on another scale (inner space) some protozoa keep us alive, living in our organs and some others live in the cells of the animals at the Zoo. Then, at either end of the bridge are images of Mantua, portrayed in colors music, people and buildings, and the Zoo (through some of the animals in its collection) respectively.

Santoleri portrayed both of the communities in bright colors so that the experience of the mural, in a car, is like passing through bands of color, an inverted rainbow, but walking past, a viewer sees all the details and moves naturally from the neighborhood of Mantua to the Zoo, following the parading animal cutouts that disappear sometimes, i.e. a polar bear might look like a galaxy in one section, then he’s walking on the rooftops of Mantua in another section.

The flora, vines and other greenery depicted on the east wall tells the story that the Zoo, and the surrounding park, are a wilderness in the context of a city, that the Zoo itself was conceived as a garden, and it is still a carefully manicured garden of selected plants and animals.

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (painted out in 2021/2022).