Making of a Mural: In the Orbit of Ra

The journey of a mural from conception to paint to dedication can be years along. From the hunt for the wall, to the artist selection to the community engagement process, it’s no simple task for a new mural to come to life. In this monthly series, we’ll share the behind the scenes stories on how our collection comes to life.

Neighbors, muralists, and musicians agree: a Sun Ra tribute was long overdue in East Germantown, where the iconic Afrofuturist lived and worked for nearly 30 years. What’s the story behind this vibrant mural that took almost six years to complete?

For Mural Arts, wall hunting is an art of its own. A wall needs to be in good condition and in clear view, and crucially, the wall owner needs to agree. In the Orbit of Ra had yet another specification: It had to be right in the heart of East Germantown, where the Arkestra members would see it every time they left the house.

Muralists Ernel Martinez and Keir Johnston, along with Pete Angevine, who managed the mural project—all longtime fans of Sun Ra—said they wanted the Arkestra to feel as celebrated at home as they are across the globe.

Sun Ra and the Grammy-nominated Arkestra were massively influential around the world, selling out five-hour performances in Europe and sparking a cultural movement with Afrofuturism. But in their own neighborhood of Germantown, many community members felt the band’s legacy was overlooked as foundational Black artists.

This mural was one way of rectifying that, by putting their legacy on view, in full color, at the largest scale possible. To evoke Sun Ra’s unique aesthetic through the mural, the artists visited the band at their clubhouse, attended performances, researched old records, and even celebrated several birthdays with the now-102-year-old Marshall Allen.

Finding a suitable wall for In the Orbit of Ra took nearly six years, since two walls fell through at the end of the design process. Each time, the design needed to be rethought and reformatted to fit. But in the end, the wall found the perfect home: October Gallery Museum, a Black-owned art gallery in Germantown that spotlights contemporary African American art.

“Our weird, winding story with all the different walls falling through again and again in certain ways does mirror the career, the arc of Sun Ra,” says Mural Arts Project Manager Angevine, who himself was inspired to become a musician after attending a masterclass with Sun Ra in eighth grade. “[The Arkestra was] an impossible thing that he was trying to do but through unending persistence, discipline, hard work, creativity, and imagination he made it all happen. It’s so inspiring.”