There’s a New Mural Coming to the Foster Avenue Bridge
A new mural, "Sing Your Song!!" by Moana Niumeitolu
As part of the DOT ARTerventions public arts initiative- FDC is wokring with Artist, actor, and poet Vaimoana (Moana) Niumeitolu to paint the next art installation in our neighborhood. At a young age, Moana and her family migrated from Hawaii to Utah and at 18, Moana left Utah for New York City with the hopes of being an artist. Moana earned her undergraduate degree from New York University in painting and performance, the Ellen Battell Stoeckel Fellowship in painting and drawing from Yale University, and attended Columbia University’s graduate program in acting. As a student at NYU, she co-found an all-Black and Brown women/trans music and poetry group called Mahina Movement. “In our twenty years’ existence, we performed over 700 shows, sharing stages with Angela Davis, Harry Belafonte, Noam Chomsky, Amiri Baraka, Joan Baez, Alice Walker, and countless others.” (UMFA)
Moana has painted community murals all over the world. Her occupation with activism, representation, and performance can be seen working in her art. Optimism shines through her work as she focuses on the sincerity of faces, many of which express candid smiles and lines that beam in vivid color.
Sing your song!!!
“This design features beautiful Latinx mother and son, Celeste and Martin who live in Ditmas Park. The quilted pattern sky is inspired by the many, many quilts made by the women in the Quilting Group in Ditmas Park and by ngatu, a Tongan communal, traditional art form. The golden hexagons below are the details of what will be inside the golden hexagons throughout the mural. These golden hexagon patterns I created are inspired by the words community members gave me on how they described Ditmas Park. The words were written in Hindi, Hebrew, Arabic, Spanish, Nepali, Mandarin and English: new home, love, community, peace, justice, beautiful, beautiful flowers, family and many, many more! This bird represents singing and sharing your truth, being free to act and free to be.” – Vaimoana (Moana) Niumeitolu
North Facing Wall
South Facing Wall
