Raw Art Works

Partnering with Lynn Public Schools' new Welcome Center, a team of staff and youth from Raw Art Works (RAW) will work with 20 Newcomer youth from LPS to create a powerful mural installation using the community art technique of parachute cloth. The mural will be installed on the columns of the 5-story building that houses the Welcome Center and the new Frederick Douglass Collegiate Academy. The building faces the Lynnway, a major artery in and out of the city of Lynn. Participating youth artists will learn the parachute cloth mural technique from guest artists Ana Infante and David (Mambo) Flores who are based in Juarez, Mexico. Ana and Mambo have adopted this technique originally taught to them by Philadelphia muralist Michelle Angela Ortiz, and have used it in their community and in countless communities to address themes of migration, belonging and community. The murals, created by immigrant youth in Lynn, will present a powerful message of welcoming and belonging that will be visible to thousands of commuters daily and will echo these themes represented in murals of Ana and Mambo in Ciudad Juárez, where a sister panel will also be installed.

www.rawartworks.org