If any humor can be found in the current controversy over Burlington’s “Everyone Loves a Parade!” mural, it’s in the title. Some locals don’t love the mural at all and have accused it of whitewashing history. In response to the outcry, the city council created a public task force in May to come up with recommendations for how to deal with the piece.
If you’re new to this public art kerfuffle, here’s a recap: In 2009, Québécois artist Pierre Hardy was commissioned to paint “Everyone Loves a Parade!” for the Church Street Marketplace — actually, in the alleyway linking Church Street to the parking garage. The piece was intended to commemorate Samuel de Champlain’s “discovery” of Lake Champlain and the ensuing 400 years of local history. Completed in 2012, the mural is emblazoned with corporate logos of companies that sponsored its creation.
In November 2017, activist Albert Petrarca spray-painted the mural’s legend with the words “Off the Wall.”
Petrarca was charged with unlawful mischief but has continued to rally against the mural, saying it misrepresents the Abenaki. Critics have also complained about the mural’s dearth of people of color.
According to emails from Hardy released by the city, the Native person depicted in the mural is meant to be a Huron who accompanied de Champlain.
The task force has met almost weekly since May. Its members include University of Vermont master’s of community development and applied economics candidate Weiwei Wang, Sweetwaters owner Terri Melincoff (a mural sponsor), artist Jen Berger, lawyer Brian Sullivan, folklorist Thomas Carroll, historian and mental health professional Gary De Carolis, and UVM adjunct professor Patrick Brown.
Burlington City Arts executive director Doreen Kraft advises the panel, as does assistant city attorney Anthea Dexter-Cooper.
On Wednesday, July 18, the task force members held a public comment session in city hall. Six Burlington residents showed up to voice their complaints; all advocated for the removal of the mural.
“I feel like a historical minstrel,” said clinical mental health counselor Vicki Garrison, who is African American. “I’m put in a position to share my heart’s truth, and white people are in a position to erase that truth, regardless of how painful it is.”
As Garrison’s remark implied, the task force is largely white, as are the city council members who will decide the mural’s fate. She added that “the mural does exactly what I’ve experienced my entire life. It promotes … erasure of people of color.”
Before the session closed, Kraft read a statement from Vermont Arts Council executive director Karen Mittelman. It noted that the issue of racism in public artworks is on trial across the country, not just in Burlington.
“The challenge for any community is to find meaningful ways to keep the past and present in an ongoing dialogue,” Mittelman wrote. “Ideally, public art and artists play a key role in broadening our vision and helping us all to find ethical and inclusive ways to represent our community.”
After the meeting, task force chair Wang said, “It’s great that we do have this opportunity to have these discussions and be able to provide these recommendations — as opposed to no process at all.”
Those discussions are often aided by testimony from community members and artists, including Hardy himself. After the July 10 meeting, the mural artist sent a letter to the task force at Melincoff’s request.
That letter was not read at the July 18 meeting and has not yet been entered into the public record, but Dexter-Cooper gave a copy to Seven Days. In it, Hardy requests “a nice acknowledgment and a simple thank you” from Chief Don Stevens. His reasoning? Recent events have helped the Vermont Abenaki Alliance gain recognition, Hardy believes. One example: a partnership with Burlington to host events and exhibits showcasing Abenaki culture.
Read the artist’s letter in full below.
The mural task force will meet twice more to solidify its recommendations and will submit them to the city council for consideration at an August 13 meeting.
Task force meeting times and locations are posted at burlingtonvt.gov.
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This article appears in The Adirondack Issue 2018.
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I find it funny how Hardy takes Donald Steven’s Wannabiak act seriously. He’s not an Abenaki and neither are any of the so-called groups claiming that ancestry, such as the Elnu, Nulhegan and Koasek “pretend indian” groups.
Wow the artists letter shows how out of touch he is along with this out of touch and insincere representation of Vermont. Boo for having a white washed committee to deal with a white washed mural. The mural is cheesy, disgustingly commercial and quite unsettling.
This is not about art. ELAP is a mural commissioned by very privileged whites. Now we are being asked, as the artist suggests, by “those who feel oppressed, alienated, and silenced” in the community to see and hear them. Our white fragility makes this difficult. We discuss, we explain, we deny racist intent. Can we see? Can we hear? Can we truly listen?
Until we confront the white supremacy that harms us all, our community cannot make restitution, heal, and be transformed. This is not about art. It is about white supremacy.
This is an artists vision and art and was meant as a decorative and playful creation, a sort of Wheres Waldo if you will….as a non-Christian in Vermont, I could make the same argument of racism, etc. upon seeing a Christmas tree on the Marketplace…of an example of Christian supremacy, but I see it for what it is, and know that it brings joy to those that see it, even as it brings some discomfort to me. All this outrage and wasted energy should be directed at what is happening in our country now, such as the separation of children from their families and the rampant gun violence against people of color And those who are not……I know that I will be attacked for my white privilege but honestly, get out there and protest and work for something that will make a difference in someones life…..
I think there was a great disservice to the rich arts community in Burlington and surrounding areas. why was a canadian given this opportunity and not a resident?
I hope this lame mural outlives every one of these annoying complainers.
Burlington schools are 35% students of color, and school groups regularly come to visit that mural. There they see all manner of people celebrated – historical figures, current city leaders, the Hot Dog Lady – but only 4 people of color, according to Pierre Hardy’s notes, of which, only one (Alexander Twilight) is named on the mural. Imagine what that does, to a young child of color, to see barely anyone that looks like them up on the mural. Imagine being a black girl and seeing the only black woman as an anonymous entertainer? Imagine being a child of color who sees none of the people of color who have made a difference in their community represented? None of the leaders of color who have made a difference to them. There’s a clear message in their absence – they don’t matter.
If your family is like mine, you’ve been listening to Hamilton, the musical, for a solid year. You may find yourself forgetting that the original characters inventing our country were all white men. I was struck by Daveed Diggs, one of the Hamilton stars, saying that if he had seen Hamilton as a child, it would have changed his life. Representation matters.
Too many people with too much time on their hands .
Mr. Cohen, the parade mural is not artist vision. Hardy was instructed by a detailed RFP, then when hired was told who and what to paint and how much space each client bought. The assistant told the mural task force that she did most of the work, painting 60 hours a week. Meanwhile, Hardy was required to solicit donors and provide them with shows of “the artist at work in his studio” which we now know was a dump that had no toilet. The assistant said installation was delayed two months because, over Hardy’s objections, the newly elected mayor and his family had to be added. And, according to both Hardy and the assistant, installation in the alley was a nightmare because the public wasn’t loving it at all.
Everything about this mural was cheesy commercialism. It was neither original nor particularly well executed, and it is definitely not trompe l’oile. Defending the mural as art, or fun, or history has been thoroughly debunked, along with the idea that it’s protected by VARA, or that the donors are entitled to 10 year display of their spot on the billboard. There are no signed contracts, or agreements, or easement to display on that building. No financial records either, i.e. no accountimg for $100,000 reported to have been raised and spent. Advertising sale of tobacco is illegal, as are billboards (recently the State schooled the City on that and Sinex’s art was removed).
Do you really want to defend the parade mural? Where’s Waldo? That is hilarious! How about where are the Abenaki? Not existing til recognized in 2011, Hardy thinks. Where are notable people of color? A ribbon dancer on a column, really? Lincoln? Was that a joke? Lincoln wanted to send black people back to Africa!