Date
1993
Location
5th St. between Towne and Crocker
Skid Row
Media Notes
Cervantez and Michael Schnorr, assisted by Sol Alvarez, Susan Yamagata and Todd Stands, as well as artists from the homeless community: Flo Hawkins, Eric Kelly and Charles E. Snow.
Description
The wall was divided into sections. Michael Schnorr designed the panels closest to Crocker with major input from the street people of Skid Row. His section developed day-by-day. For an image of people standing in line he was influenced by Margaret Bourke-White's famous 1930s Life Magazine photograph of people in line at a soup kitchen standing under a billboard promoting the American Dream. Yreina Cervantez' two panels are near Towne. The first of hers, "A Rain Drop Falls From My Lips," shows a woman walking in the rain. Its message is that the people in this neighborhood are not just vulnerable from the elements, but also from the dangers of the streets. The title comes from a song written by a homeless musician--the lyrics appear in the mural. Her second panel is dedicated to homeless vets. Portraits of well-known role models of color--a kind of Wall of Respect--were painted at both ends of the entire mural by Flo Hawkins.
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