My Life, My Path, My Destiny

My Life, My Path, My Destiny by artist Cesar Viveros is a mural installed on a 300’ x 35’ wall (a quarter of a mile) that runs beside an unused railroad track in a neighborhood folks call “Port Fishington” because it joins the Kennsington, Port Richmond and Fishtown neighborhoods of Philadelphia. Words running along the top of the completed horizontal wall describe the stages of life represented below, from infant “Innocence” to “Fulfillment” of adult dreams. In the middle, “Choices,” in which a child is devoured by a huge Venus fly trap, is flanked by “Pressure,” the lure of drugs and easy money, and “Facing Decisions,” in which a closed door reminds some decisions are forever.

Discussion was integral to the planning process for a mural of this scale. Using flyers, posters and knocking on doors, MAP representatives and the artist met with residents to gather input and ideas for the production of this monumental work. The design Viveros first unveiled at a community meeting pleased most, but some felt that a predominance of African American kids did not reflect the local community. “They were right,” Viveros realized. “If you look at the neighborhood, there are just a few African Americans and a few Latinos.” He reworked the design, changing models for some of the symbolic figures who illustrate decisive moments in maturation.

Groups of “Port Fishington” children, students at St. Gabriel’s, and incarcerated individuals at SCI Graterford filled in 240 6’ x 5’ fabric panels traced by the artist. “I purposefully had all the groups paint on some panels just to make a symbolic physical connection between them,” he explained.

Viveros says, “The idea was to connect this group of kids with inmates through murals.” The topic was not so much “What will look nice on a wall?” but “What helps kids avoid the mistakes leading to crime?” A third group, residents of the community where this mural is located, also met for discussions and later painted parts of the mural at St. Anne’s Church. The elaborate panorama is beautifully rendered in fresh, appealing colors. Viveros feels that although it “shows the dark side, people need something meaningful.”

The mural was restored in 2019.