New York City is an uncontested center of art world at large, including street art in particular. However, the city’s bustling center, populated by its most iconic skyscrapers and monuments, is somewhat bereft of murals. Midtown and the neighborhoods bordering its North are so heavily trafficked, so infused with the money flowing throughout them on a daily basis, that any street art put up surreptitiously in the nigh is quickly removed to restore the tourist-scrubbed image. Furthermore, large-scale commissioned murals are a multi-faceted, heavily regulated endeavor in these areas. As a result, there’s not much respite available from the vertically looming, spare concrete edifices here, though Street Art for Mankind has been turning that tide as of late.
Street Art for Mankind’s website explains that it is “a world-first street art movement to fight child trafficking.” Headed by Thibault Decker, the registered nonprofit strives to “[unite] street artists from all around the world to free children from forced labor and slavery.” They do so by raising awareness through large mural installations and the sale of pieces by participating artists. “100% of the funds” raised from this endeavor “go to awareness campaigns and actions on the field to save children, especially the raid and rescue programs operated by the Nobel Peace Prize laureate Kailash Satyarthi and its KSCF Foundation.”
At the beginning of April, Street Art for Mankind partnered with the United Nations to host ILO100, an event commemorating “the centennial of the International Labour Organization (ILO), the oldest United Nations agency.” In celebrating this momentous occasion, the arts organization curated a series of massive murals that “depict the social justice and fair employment challenges we are facing in terms of green jobs, gender equality at work, eradication of child and forced labor, youth employment, and future of work.” Their efforts resulted in “one of the most inspiring self-guided Art Walks ever created,” featuring “spectacular social justice murals made by prominent street artists” including cuban muralist Jorge Gerada.
Gerada completed a mural at the Westin Hotel, located on 42nd Street. This is one of the most well-known streets in New York. It runs through Times Square and is heavily associated with Broadway theater. The artist’s thoughtful style brings peace to its chaos. His style is quiet and pensive, the ethos surrounding his work is more community-minded than the stereotypical concept of the artist-as-god that many of us have grown accustomed to. In his own words, Gerada’s biography explains his views on muralism, stating that “although it has always been based in cities, urban art hasn’t always belong to the citizens. Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada has
changed this and has given it a new condition. He has achieved this because his work is not made solely for ‘urbanites.’ Above all, it is truly aimed at the citizenship that is forced to live, and above all, forced to transform the beast that is the City in the 21st century.”
Gerada participates in the field while maintaining his own principles. His biography continues to note that, “his work hasn’t left behind the classical arguments of the urban art practice, but he has moved away from some of its most common mistakes: the egotistical excess of graffiti, the loudness and the invasive aesthetics, to move into a calmer and more reflective space.”
Over the course of his career, Gerada has honed his ability to capture the most intimate aspects of individuals’ personalities. The artist’s murals feature a heavy focus on the emotion found in the eyes, whether it’s curiosity, contemplation, or amusement. His work embodies photorealism, though its expression varies between instances. The mural he completed for ILO100 remains in line with these sensibilities. The gigantic endeavor shows a child’s gazing eyes, each one six feet tall, his face surrounded by flowers harkening to the generative, blooming nature of childhood. The innocence contrasts against the image reflected in his irises though, which the artist describe as “children doing work they shouldn’t be doing,” in an interview with Sarah of Sold Magazine.
In this interview, the artist also stressed the importance of understanding this problem’s universality, explaining, “the child had to not look Third World, meaning not of color, so we can contrast. This is not just a problem in the Third World, because there are children who are trafficked and enslaved here in New York City.”
As one of Street Art For Mankind’s leading voices, Thibault Decker remarked that “this mural has huge importance because it is the main topic that we represent. There are currently 125 million children in forced labor, 73 million of them in hazardous environments, and 22,000 die every year.” With his contribution to ILO100, Gerada inserts his own thoughtful voice into the new murals bringing fresh life to Midtown Manhattan. His style makes a strong, poignant point in an understated fashion that allows the work to speak for itself. With its massive stature and iconic location, this mural draws the millions of viewers who will encounter it each day out of their shell and into an empathetic space, shocked by the dichotomy of what childhood should be, and the what it is, unfortunately, for many young victims stolen by child labor. In the words of the ILO’s Vinicius Pinheiro, “work like this is more powerful than speeches.”
Images by @just_a_spectator
Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada: website | facebook | instagram
Street Art for Mankind: website | facebook | instagram
The International Labour Organization: website | facebook | twitter
