#fun4thedisabled documented the creation of a wonderful #mural by Chicago artist Sam Kirk for the Central West Community Center. Sam Kirk collaborated with disabled and #senior residents of Chicago. The mural celebrates all kinds of disabilities as well as seniors.
The mural and this video were supported by Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, the Mayor’s Office of People with #Disabilities, and the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events.
The mural is located at the Central West Community Center at 2102 W. Ogden Avenue. Come visit MOPD and see the mural!
Click to View ASL Transcript
SAM KIRK: I’m Sam Kirk. I’m born and raised Chicagoan. I’ve been a professional artist for 12 years. And this was a hobby that very organically turned into a career. Art is something that I began as a way to communicate about my own identity. It is something that I really value and storytelling and sharing the narratives of people and being able to visually represent different communities through artwork. Taking on this commission and creating the concepts, I’ve learned a ton. This project has definitely made me think about the content of the work that I create and how different people can engage with it, but also how to communicate with folks with different abilities through a two-dimensional piece of artwork.
SPEAKER: Is there some way to recognize neurodiversity?
JAE JIN PAK: Finding a way of representing how complex our disability community is.
ERICK: And the use of different mobility devices.
SPEAKER: If you recognize the deaf community, try to find some concept other than the sign for I love you.
SAM KIRK: For every panel does focus on mobility. It does focus on speech. It does focus on hearing and auditory. And we use several different color palettes that were specific to individuals with low vision or experiencing color blindness and color palettes that represented the neurodiversity community. So it was a combination of functionality and also representation. One of the most important things was to show how active the community is, to show different ways that we move throughout the city, different ways that we engage through the arts and through music, but also professionally as well. So you’ll see a combination of those different elements in each part of the mural. It’s definitely a mural that is completely different than other work that I’ve done. This work is a reflection of all of our voices. I’m really proud of it. I hope that you are proud of your contribution.
LORI LIGHTFOOT: I feel like every time I come to this building, something great happens. And today is one of those days!
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