The People’s History of Flatbush Junction

Project Description

A team of youth artists from Midwood High School transformed an overpass with a mural representing Flatbush’s history. Their mural design incorporated the experiences of students, who live in the community, and outlines the community’s history dating back to Native Americans and farmland. In addition to the individual experiences and research of local students, the history incorporated into the mural is based on the findings of Ron Schweiger, a historian for Kings County, who led the team on a walking tour around the neighborhood.
 
To depict the changing nature of the Flatbush neighborhood over hundreds of years, “The People’s History of Flatbush Junction” features a series of portraits that is a detailed rendition of a time period. Each portrait uses perspective, scale, proportion, and color to depict a composition that is visually informative, stimulating, and readable. Reading left to right through history, scenes include Flatbush’s important histories through such eras as the American Revolutionary War, the industrial age, and contemporary times. The leftmost portrait is a figure looks out to the future and wears a high-tech spacesuit. All the faces together sewn by the river of time make up a pretty compelling mural of history and culture.

Add new comment

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Image CAPTCHA
Enter the characters shown in the image.

Project Info

Fun Facts

Research
The Kings Theatre was opened in 1929 and is listed in the National Register of Historic Places.
Legend
One of the portraits features a crown of farm animals, to represent when Flatbush was used for farmland.
Suggested Activity
Choose a historical era and create your own symbolic portrait from your research.