FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — As Juneteenth approaches, the City of Fayetteville is celebrating the completion of a new mural on Nelson Hackett Boulevard called "Remembrance." Community members gathered on Monday, June 17, for the official unveiling.
"I believe it's very important that when one is creating, especially artwork, there needs to be a relationship between their location, the community, as well as [the community's] responses," artist Joëlle Storet said. "As I was working on this, I was getting a lot of feedback from drivers shouting at me in excitement, and so that kind of response obligates you to kind of continue working until the job is done."
Storet is the artist behind the 90-foot-long mural. She was selected from dozens of applicants to create the mural. City leaders were looking for artwork that reflected themes of movement, justice, and connectivity.
"It is important for this particular piece to be revealed on Juneteenth because murals like these do provide a sense of agency. And with the timing of Juneteenth, it just worked out very well," Storet said. "Naturally, I felt compelled to create a piece paying homage to some of the families that have had a long history with this area."
The new mural took six weeks to create, while Storet worked nine to ten hours to complete it.
"Remembrance" is a depiction of Nelson Hackett who escaped from slavery in Fayetteville but on this wall, there are many faces of the community, including ones who have been here for generations.
"These are ordinary residents of the city of Fayetteville that grew up together, that all knew each other," community member J Aleczander said. "All of these families knew each other and lived in a five-block vicinity, and we would come up and visit quite often. And so I find it amazing that it depicts the reality of a neighborhood in a way that we hadn't seen before."
Aleczander said he has family members painted on the mural.
"This is my great uncle, Ulan Fay Barnes, and he was instrumental in raising us to be cultured individuals [who] study the arts and learn more about our history," Aleczander said. "He is the brother of Dorothy Barker, and she was a Barnes Bettis Carter as well."
Aleczander says he feels grateful to be a part of Black history in Fayetteville.
"It's just now telling the story of how special," he said. "There's people that can reside in a community for years means that there is economic opportunity. It means that there is a chance for their kids to go to decent schools and get an education, and that was the draw I feel for a lot of these families, that they found that it was a safe haven."
As thousands walk and drive by this mural every day, those behind it say it's an ongoing reminder of the city's Black history.
"Although we grow in our population, I find that it's really important to focus on the individuals that make up that population, that community," Aleczander said.
The new mural is part of an ongoing effort to cover a 500-foot-long concrete retaining wall along the road with murals. The goal is to have the murals completed before Fayetteville's Bicentennial celebration in 2028.
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