MLK Day of Service, 2016 (John Bartram High School)

In celebration of Martin Luther King Day in 2016, Mural Arts Philadelphia and The Guild of the Restorative Justice Program painted a series of murals inside the front hallway of Bartram High School in Southwest Philadelphia with assistance from some of the students there. The team also repainted some additional walls in the hallway and the auditorium.

This project was organized in a very short period of time, so the artist, Willis “Nomo” Humphrey decided to base his design on a mural that he successfully painted with students at Wister Elementary School in Germantown. He met with a student leadership group at Bartram High to get their ideas for this mural; they were interested in a theme of wishes and dreams and wanted to see imagery of blowing dandelions if possible.

Two walls were also set aside to show portraits of notable Bartram alumni, or “dream catchers” depicted in colors that reference the school’s colors of maroon and gray.

Location Note: Murals are inside a school building, and therefore not accessible for public viewing.