Last week, muralists Detour and Hiero completed a collaborative portrait of George Floyd. The motif covers a wall on the side of a Ready Temporary Services building on Colfax Avenue at High Street where the Colorado Guardian Angels have based operations for the last few years.
Detour, whose name is Thomas Evans, initially told Denverite that he'd rather not comment on the work, preferring to let it "speak for itself."
But he said he spoke to a lot of passersby as he and Hiero worked, and he decided to send us a short thought about the role of art in this moment of protest and uprising against police brutality and systemic violence.
"I really just came back to the theme that this is a constant reminder," he wrote. "As momentum fades, there's always an image that continues the conversation."
Marches along Colfax and elsewhere downtown have not abated after more than a week of daily actions at all hours. The movement has also begun to shift into a policy phase, as Denver Public Schools moves to cut ties with the Denver Police Department, City Council contemplates investing in the police and state legislators attempt to increase police accountability.
If the consistency of marches and public demonstrations begin to fade, Evans hopes images of this moment painted on walls will remind Denverites that injustice here and nationwide must still be addressed.
