If you are walking around Chinatown in D.C. you may notice a new six-story mural. The famous street artist who put it there hopes it sparks conversation about school shootings.
The mural, off H Street, not far from Capitol One Arena, is a painting of Joaquin Oliver that is dozens of feet tall. Underneath, the words, “Demand Change,” are written.
Joaquin Oliver or “Guac” was killed during the 2018 Parkland, Florida, school shooting.
Artist and activist Shepard Fairey painted the mural over three days.
“I wanted to help. I wanted to support his parents and make an image of Joaquin that would remind people of the human consequence of gun violence,” Fairey told WTOP.
The artist, known for his OBEY campaign and former President Barack Obama’s HOPE campaign portrait, invited Oliver’s father, Manuel Oliver, also an artist, to help with the mural.
“It’s a good day. Out of a lot of bad days that I have, today, we’re bringing back Joaquin, in a bigger and louder way than ever,” Manuel Oliver said after the mural’s unveiling.
When asked what he hopes people passing by the mural take away from it, Oliver said, “You have to figure out how to help, how to choose better leaders, how to fight for better laws and regulations in terms of easy access to guns. So, yeah, this is a positive, graphic way of inviting people to become part of a solution.”
Oliver’s mother Patricia was in attendance for the unveiling.
“To live for Joaquin means we carry his voice forward, and that’s what I’ve been seeing so far,” she told the crowd of supporters that gathered there.
The mural was painted in collaboration with the nonprofit political organization Change the Ref, the Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, and DowntownDC BID.
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