Denver-based artist Robert Gray came up with the idea of the Black Love Mural Festival while cleaning up protest debris in the city in the wake of the murder of George Floyd in 2020.
His goal in launching the fest was to highlight the peace and positivity of the Black Lives Matter movement and to give people what he felt could be a healthy outlet of expression during a civil rights movement that shook the world.
Cya Jonae, Black Love Mural Festival's marketing and media director, said she was simply in search of community when she got involved during the fest's origins. This year, alongside Kaylee Bender and Yazz Atmore, the trio is set to carry the torch of BLMF.
"Me, Kaylee and Yazz initially got started with Black Love Mural Festival as artists and then that gave us the opportunity to find community, especially with other strong, powerful Black women," said Jonae, artistically known as CyaTheCreator. "Our goal is to reintroduce ourselves again with this event and say 'This is who we are, this is our team.'"
The live competitive mural showcase will take place this Saturday, Sept. 30 from 2-10 p.m. Each of the four painters will be tasked with creating an 8×8 artwork at RiNo's Art Park.
In the spirit of competition and the first of its kind for the Black Love Mural Festival, painters will be competing against one another for community votes.
The Black Love team, featuring Jonae, Bender serving as outreach coordinator and Atmore serving as operations coordinator, is looking to build on the work that Gray and others laid the foundation for.
"When [Gray] reached out to us he didn't just ask us to do the event this time, he asked us if we would like to take over the Black Love Mural festival," Jonae said. "We jumped at the opportunity."
Here are the competitiors and what you can expect from the mural showcase:
Aside from the live painting by competing muralists, an artist showcase gallery, curated by Gray, will be open to the public featuring local artists. There will also be a vendor market from 2-8 p.m. and a movie night will run from 8-11 p.m. The featured film will be "Set It Off" and will serve as a closing event for Culture Movie Nights traditionally held at Green Spaces.
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Competing Artists
Jonae is Denver-based oil painter that's heavily influenced by music, pop-culture and the world around her. Her art focuses on portraiture and expressing Black joy.
Bender is an east coast native that now operates from their home studio in Denver. A self-taught painter, Bender uses portraiture and surrealism to express intentions and dreams.
Atmore is an analog collagist and muralist that graduated from Metropolitan State University with a bachelors in Supporting High Risk Youth through the Arts. As a community organizer, creative and educator in Denver, Atmore's art explores themes of spirituality, ancient and ancestral wisdom, nature and Afro-futurism.
Sever has been involved with the Black Love Mural Festival since 2021 and she considers her work to be love letters to Black women and the multicultural experiences she's lived as a white-passing, biracial woman.
