Endless Unfoldment

Endless Unfoldment by artist Ibi Padrón Venegas is located in the Olde Kensington neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This mural represents a dreamlike environment that exists outside of the expectations of time. A garden where life and death are concurrent; where questions and their answers exist within each other. At the horizon is the limit of death. At the ground is regeneration and growth. At the center is a meditating figure accompanied by their preoccupying thoughts and personas existing within. Four hounds representing fear and anxiety creep from behind a towering deity that welcomes all the existing elements within the piece with open arms.

The mural is part of Small Walls, a Mural Arts Philadelphia program created to amplify emerging and underrepresented artists. It provides them the opportunity to create and lead their first mural project, while amplifying the artist’s creative expression and skills. The murals are meant to be on display for a year, with the intention to rotate each site to another artist to provide additional opportunities. For this first (2024) iteration, three artists who have worked with Mural Arts in the past couple of years as artist assistants were selected through an RFQ and selection panel. Featured artists included Jaq “Jingle” Masters, Ibi Padrón Venegas, and Yuliya Semenova.

To celebrate the installation of these three Small Walls murals, an artist talk event was held at Paradigm Art Gallery on May 21, 2024. The artists had the opportunity to discuss their experiences with the production of their murals and their dreams going forward.