By Takiyah “TDub” Ward

July 9th marked an annual occasion for the VividMatterCollective (VMC), as they spent the day

repairing the world famous Black Lives Matter Street mural on Capitol Hill. Set between the

south end of Cal Anderson Park and Rancho Bravo, the mural takes up an entire lane between

10th and 11th Ave. A huge statement originally made in the midst of the civil unrest of the

CHOP/CHAZ protests, VMC set out to ensure the message that Black Lives Matter remained

the focal point of all what was going on during that time in the streets of Seattle, Washington.

An idea formulated during a Tuesday evening conversation between Joey Nix and Takiyah TDUB

Ward, turned reality by Wednesday morning and completed Thursday night, June 11, 2020.

Now two years later much has changed but much has stayed the same.

The annual repainting of the BLM Street Mural if nothing else serves as a checkpoint to reflect

on where we’ve come from and where we are going. This years repaint was bookmarked by yet

another slew of gruesome police murders, a decision in the case of Charleena Lyles, and the

overturning of Roe V Wade. In some ways times seem much harder, but the folks at VMC

remain hopeful that through artistic activation and collective consciousness they can continue

to shift the narrative one mural at a time. Since 2020 VMC has, on a collective and individual

basis, created a CVS receipt worth of art that spans the gamete from multimedia installations,

rotating gallery shows, curation, collaboration, murals, private commissions and more public art.

VMC hopes to acquire space to continue their work in the coming months, and is in talks to

produce a documentary about their experiences painting the BLM Mural. Next week marks the

first VMC showcase since the mural at XO_Seattle as part of Forest For The Trees which takes

place adjacent to Seattle Art Fair. For more information and to support, head over to

www.VividMatterCollective.com