Keep Richmond Beautiful

Artist: DJ Agana and youth from RYSE

Location: Richmond Art Center, 2540 Barrett Ave

City: Richmond

Date Painted: 2016

Date Photographed: 2022

Photographer: East Bay Walls

Description: "Keep Richmond Beautiful." Buddha in a lotus. poppies. pineapple. man with locs (Donté Clark). cactus and pile of books with flower growing out of it. woman (Nyabingha “Nya” Zianni) with raised hands.

Notes: About the mural: Artists’ Statement: This is art by us, Richmond youth from RYSE in partnership with Richmond Art Center. Founded in healing and growth, our mural dedicated to keeping Richmond beautiful cultivates self-love and communal healing, and challenges viewers to do the same. To break clean from stereotypes of teen culture, we visualize love, creativity, transformation and self-actualization through art and healthy relationships. To flip expectation we claim our creative power, we paint our own realities of what we want to see and maintain in our city. Our tools are acrylic and aerosol paint on walls. Our struggle is shaped in visual voices of young people. In our philosophy of restorative social justice, we articulate vision for the world around us: for youth rights, freedom of speech, Black Lives Matter, and Farmworker solidarity. In healing from day to day, we cut, we carve, we stamp, we paint, we print, and we promote artistic tools for coping with and healing from the violence of our community. This mural’s inspiration came from youth that were involved with a program called RAW Talent, that started in Making Waves Academy in Richmond. The mural showcases members from RAW Talent (Donté Clark and Nyabingha “Nya” Zianni), and includes titles of music productions/performances that happened in the community.