Harvesting Hope by Candy Kuo in Austin

This is currently my largest and most complex solo mural project. I had been selected out of an open call to create an environmental justice piece for the city of Austin's oldest institution of higher learning, Huston-Tillotson University. Funded by a grant through Mural Arts Philadelphia to local organizations Raasin in the Sun and the ATX Mosaic Workshop, this project was tirelessly developed over multiple years and phases. With the city's uneasy past and participation in the erosion of East Austin's green spaces and safe and equitable housing and land protection policies, we wanted to address the idea and theme of resiliency in the face of climate change and environmental injustices. The process involved multiple team meetings involving local community leaders, university staff, city council members, among many others who all donated their time and voices to lend strength to the message. Carefully edited through rounds of consideration by local residents as well as long-established public art facilitators, this was the final chosen composition. There was no doubt for me as to whether or not Mother Nature would be a woman of color, her skin the same tone as the rich, fertile soil. Her womb capable of creating life and her body, nourish and sustain it. Furthermore, I wanted these figures to represent not just the past, present, and future, but specifically the multi-generational fight against the generational curses being perpetrated against this earth, our shared home, and the power in advocating for change and standing by your conviction, even if it means standing alone. The powerful divider and decider of the past and future. A resilient figure in the face of adversity. The archway opens like a portal into the unknown and bright future, the hands of our children carrying on the torches of life, but also the heavy burdens of our failures as stewards of their equitable and just future. I hope that in 30 years when my daughter is the age I am now, she will be living in a world where everybody sees the value in the natural gifts and wonders of this earth, where access to clean water, air, land and food is in abundance, and where our rights to bodily autonomy, and how we choose to live and love are never questioned. And if this mural still stands that day, I hope it is a distant reminder of the past, and that no matter how dark the night, the sun will always rise in the East.