Valerie V. Gay

Valerie’s project, ROW:HOMe, or Reclaim Our Wall: Helping Ourselves Modify, brings together the neighbors on and around the 900 block of South Paxon Street in Southwest Philadelphia to create a mosaic mural. Not only will the mural engage community and bring beauty to its surroundings, but it will also evoke history and purpose to a wall that divides the community and typifies the blight and general sense of neglect felt and seen in the community. Community members will donate much of the mural’s materials and work together to install the mosaic, demonstrating the importance of art in community engagement. Valerie hopes that the project will preserve and honor past and present communities on the block and amplify the voice of a neighborhood that often goes unheard.