a large multicultural project
Located in the South Bronx, International Community High School (ICHS) is home to students from over 20 different countries and language/dialects. To celebrate this the school had beautiful flags decorating their hallways, however one day the city deemed it unsafe and knowing the hallways would be empty without them the principal Berena Cabarcas spoke with YUCA to see what could be done. The teachers; Genesis Cabral, Erika Perez and I along with the 11th grade interns were tasked with covering the hallway with a mural of all of the flags that represented the student makeup. This was a 15 week undertaking from concept, sketch, painting and polishing.
ICHS students begin priming the walls
Painting the murals
With 42 countries to paint we teachers began to sketch lay down guides. Our kids quickly followed us up with a paint by numbers style color blocking before laying down details in the end.
Teaching Artist Erika Perez
ICHS students painting Egypt
Liza Paints the United States
Bella paints the Dominican Republic
Aneudys paints Chile
Impact on ICHS
ICHS’s hallways are now lively again. The flags continue to represent & welcome the community.