PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — October is Mural Arts Month in Philadelphia, and the festivities kicked off a little early with a new mural celebrating the city’s transgender community.
The project, titled “We Are Universal,” was unveiled Tuesday on Frankford Avenue in Fishtown. The bright hues are matched with the words:
we’re trans
we’re survivors
we are joyful
we feel rage
we are UNIVERSAL!
The giant mural is painted on the side of Cake Life Bake Shop, near Thompson Street, which is run by female and transgender owners.
Two people are depicted on it. One is Tazmere Stephens, a resident of Morris Home, the country’s only trans-focused recovery house.
“For so many of us, our voices are silenced even before we get a chance just to live, just to be,” said Stephens. “It’s a big responsibility to show up and show out for my community.”
Cake Life co-owner Nima Etemadi said it was important that whatever would grace the side of the building would be something they feel connected to.
Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden said the organization’s goal is to share stories and inspire people through art.
“We use the word equity a lot in our world today,” she said. “We should be using it with integrity, and that means you have to act in a way that embraces equity. And I think murals do that. They give people the dignity and respect that they deserve. You see people, they’re larger than life, and I think there’s something wonderful about that.
“[Murals] tell people’s stories, and it makes the collection here rich and wonderful because they resonate and [are] connected to and represent citizens who are here.”
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Stephens echoed Golden’s message: “I’m just like you, you’re just like me. There’s no difference between us. I think that’s what a lot of people don’t understand. They look at us like we are aliens sometimes.
“We are normal just like everybody else.”