Avani Khorana and J. grabbed these shots — and video — of the downtown Black Lives Matter inscription on Centre Street, which starts at Reade and continues north past Foley Square to Worth, as it was being completed. The mural was painted over three days last week.

City artists Tijay Mohammed, Sophia Dawson and Patrice Payne were each tasked with a word, and worked with a team of painters — including the graffiti artists Tats Cru from Hunts Point — to execute the designs. Borough President Gale Brewer facilitated the event here and in Harlem.

The word ‘black’ is filled with Adinkra symbols from Ghana; the L in ‘lives’ depicts mothers and their children; the word ‘matter’ is partly an acronym, with the Ts representing tradition and triumph and the E standing for evolve. You can read more about the artists here in the Daily News.

 

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History was made today, from Harlem to Foley Sq. as we unveiled two unique ‘Black Lives Matter’ murals on the streets of Manhattan. Thank you to the many partners, friends, and artists who worked tirelessly to make these two murals possible, including @blmgreaterny, WXY Studio, and @harlemparktopark. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us, and these murals are a modest testament to these massive challenges. However, they are also markers for our current goals and will mark this era of profound change for future generations.

A post shared by Gale A. Brewer (@galeabrewer) on Jul 3, 2020 at 2:49pm PDT