Growing Towards the Future

Growing Towards the Future by artists Jane Golden and Donald Gensler was located in the Mantua neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The artists worked with students from Golden’s urban development class at the University of Pennsylvania. The mural celebrates Mantua’s vibrant history by paying tribute to its elders. Featuring an abstracted tree, this mural thinks about both the future and the past. As Gensler described the mural: “The image is a tree growing upward. The leaves and tree are meant to be like a window to the future. Some leaves are falling from the tree into a woman’s hands. The hands of the past help the future to grow. This mural celebrates Mantua’s past while nurturing its future.”

Location Note: Mural no longer on view at this location (lost to demolition/new construction ca. 2010).