Teacher resources and professional development across the curriculum

Teacher professional development and classroom resources across the curriculum

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The Working Class (detail)
The Working Class (detail)
Tribute to Jackie Robinson
Tribute to Jackie Robinson

What makes a mural relevant to its audience?

Murals are grand-scale paintings moved off of canvases, panels, and paper and onto walls. These circumstances make them an ideal form of not just decoration, but communication as well. As these two works attest, murals can convey powerful messages that are both socially and political relevant to their urban audiences.


Questions to Consider

  • Each of these murals is what we might call “site-specific,” that is, it was created for a particular building in a particular place. Why should we think about the physical environments for these works? What do they tell us about the intended audience for each mural?
  • What are the subjects of these two murals? Why do you think these particular themes were chosen? What makes them relevant to the urban audience?
  • Who commissioned each of these murals? How does the identity of the person, group, or organization behind the work’s creation affect your understanding of the mural’s intended meaning and purpose?

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