JULY 2021
Location: Boaz & Ruth
3030 Meadowbridge Rd, Richmond, VA 23222

Photographer: Katrina Taggart-Hecksher

Through conversations between ourselves and with LaShawnda Singleton president of Richmond Association of Black Social Workers (RABSW), we created this mural in hopes to represent community building values which aid mental health issues. We incorporated the Principles of the Nguzo Saba which guides the vision of RABSW. Those principles are Unity, Self-determination, Collective Work and Responsibility, Cooperative Economics, Purpose, Creativity, and Faith. After visiting the RABSW Community Healing Garden, we decided on the theme of the mural. The theme would include the yellow wildflowers that we find all around Richmond, the state butterfly of Virginia, a bucket with cactus found in a front yard, and a plantain tree being held up by a ladder. We hope to show how in the same way we cultivate and grow gardens, we cultivate and grow communities. During our initial meeting, RABSW was gracious enough to propose for us to show Black and Brown unity. This was woven into the project through symbols, the pyramid is from the coat of arms of Honduras. The equilateral triangle means that all Hondurans are equal, the rainbow represents peace, union and the ideals of the Honduran family, and the sun represents strength and energy. Our collaboration fuses cultural ideas and symbols together in hopes to radiate a powerful image evoking love, awareness, and community education. And finally, with color as one of the primary healing elements, hoping to lift the spirits and minds of the Highland Park community with potent imagery promoting inter-cultural exchange as a means of improving mental health.

- Juliana Bustillo & Khalid Thompson