Artists Bring People And Kids Together For Tacoma’s BLM Mural Project Design

Later this summer, Tacoma’s downtown Tollefson Plaza will be transformed into the first Black Lives Matter mural sanctioned by the city and other partners. The project is designed to acknowledge police brutality of Black people and racial inequities that came to nationwide attention after the murder of George Floyd in 2020. 

The mural will cover the surface of downtown’s Tollefson Plaza with a huge tree design. Roots will extend from the tree, filled with phrases from the movement and images of people protesting. It will all be wrapped in a painted quilt. 

The project was a recommendation of the city’s volunteer Human Rights Commission. Andreta Armstrong is the city’s human rights manager.

“The entire commission wanted to signify that Tacoma supports Black lives,” says Andreta Armstrong, human rights manager for the city.

Armstrong says It took the commission a little over a year to secure approval and resources for the project.  They also selected the artists who would create the mural.

Dionne Bonner is a Tacoma-based mural artist and graphic designer. 

Lead mural artist Dionne Bonner. Photo courtesy of Jackie Zils.

“The Black Lives Matter movement is important to me, as a Black woman. And as a person that’s lived in Tacoma all my life, I wanted to make sure I centered the project with the Black community as a priority,” Bonner says.

Bonner is leading an all-Black team of four artists and two interns who are all coming together to make the project happen.

Bonner is leading an all-Black team of four artists and two interns. Using the metaphor of the tree came from the concept that we all deal with things underneath the surface of our lives on a daily basis. 

For Bonner, the representation of the mural is powerful for Tacoma.

“I want people to understand the struggle. Also, I want them to look at the words and the images and get a sense of who we are. Our strength and our endurance and what we’ve gone through,” Bonner says.

One of the other artists on the project is Kenya Adams.

Tacoma-based interdisciplinary artist Kenya Adams is also a part of the mural team. Photo courtesy of Jackie Zils.

 Adams grew up in Tacoma and says she has been involved in arts all her life.

“I definitely can date back from being in elementary school and that was like, those art opportunities and engagements were the biggest joy that I had growing up,” Adams says.

Adams is an interdisciplinary artist, she dances, she sings, she paints, and she brings all of these opportunities for expression to her work with youth.

She worked with about 150 students from two Tacoma middle schools to create a mini mural that would inspire the final, public piece.

Adams says  involving children in the project is essential since they reflect the  future.

Later in the summer, the public will be able to help with the mural by adding their handprints to the design.

The mural will serve as a reminder of hardships, of struggle, of joy, for the Tacoma community.

Kenya Adams says it’s hard to answer questions about her experiences of fighting for racial justice because says it’s a weight she shoulders every day.

“Thinking about how each day, we, as in Black people, choose to, you know, get up and continue to fight for the injustices and to create a better justice or dismantling the justice system that is not made for us,” Adams says.

Adams says the mural will help  people remember the outpouring of support for  rallies and marches in 2020 to support Black lives.

The team has had a lot of help along the way, which Adams says has been crucial.

“And it’s been really amazing to see people step up in a way that I hadn’t seen before to be a part of this project and to continue to do the work,” Adams says.

The mural has four primary sponsors — the city’s Human Rights Commission and Arts Commission, as well as the Tacoma Art Museum and the city council. The project will cost $20,000. The mural is scheduled to be completed by mid August. 

Produced with assistance from the Public Media Journalists Association Editor Corps funded by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the American people.