EAST NEW YORK WOMEN’S WALL

1993-95
JANET BRAUN-REINITZ, ROCHELLE SHICOFF

999 Blake Avenue at Linwood Street, Brooklyn, NY
18’ x 140’, acrylic on brick and concrete
with United Community Centers

Photos © Janet Braun-Reinitz

Between 1989 and 2000, Artmakers partnered with United Community Centers (UCC), a community organizing group in East New York, Brooklyn, to create 13 murals for day care centers, community gardens, parks, block associations and health care facilities. The murals are located within a two-mile radius of UCC and reflect the issues, concerns and history of the neighborhood. UCC provided all of the funding, including stipends for youth and interns.

The murals were generally led by one or more of three artists: Janet Braun-Reinitz, Wong Dowling and Rochelle Shicoff.

The East New York Women’s Wall was the most ambitious of these murals. Funded primarily through the U.S. Center for Disease Control, the mural – painted over three summers – was designed to highlight the services of the women’s health care center and to bring together local health care providers working on AIDS/STD prevention. The themes of the mural, beyond health care, were determined through conversations with the center’s clients and discussions with neighborhood residents. They included quality day care, grandparenting, drug prevention, absentee fathers, and women’s empowerment.