ZADA Artists Collaborate on Black Lives Matter Murals

Denver Artists Armina and Karlee attended protests demanding justice for black victims of police brutality and wanted to contribute to the cause.  Over the past week, the two Denver artists have begun a new mission to turn the boards covering up businesses’ windows into murals for change. So far, the majority of their work has been at the Denver Sports Castle at 10th Avenue and Broadway.

The two murals currently feature George Floyd, one of the latest and most widely talked about victims of police brutality, as well as Colin Kaepernick, civil rights activist, and former quarterback for the San Francisco 49ers.

“I think there are a lot of people of color, who are mentioned but are perceived to be violent or their message gets twisted,” Armina told OUT FRONT. “People get uncomfortable when you wanna talk about putting up a statue or a mural of Malcolm X. But we hope to be able to change people’s minds and perspectives by having these conversations. ”

One thing anyone who has attended the recent protests in Denver can agree on is the sense of community and solidarity that has taken over Downtown. As ZADA artists worked on their recent murals they were approached by several groups of other artists, one from Chicago, others local who all lent a hand.

ZADA was also able to collaborate directly with protest organizers to have their murals projected over the State Capitol Building one evening last week.

“We were sitting out on the lawn after we finished painting for the day and saw that a group of guys had been projecting images on the Capitol Hill building. So I went up and talked to them, and they were super kind and loved our murals, and asked me to send them pictures. Next thing I knew our paintings were being projected like 15 minutes later, it was just such an honor. “

ZADA plans to continue with new sets of murals taking inspiration from other art movements across the country such as the large Black Lives Matter lettering painted in front of the White House last week. In order to continue these projects, they need funding. “Paint isn’t cheap,” one ZADA artist told us. Please consider donating to their GoFundMe page.