Das Homework

Who, What, Where: My mural was in Brooklyn, in the neighborhood of Bushwick. Specifically, it is on Waterbury Street between Scholes and Meserole. This area is full of murals, particularly concentrated around these couple of blocks, and new art is added to the walls every couple of months. The artists are a pair, "Icy And Sot", and their online bio says they are brothers. They are from Tabriz, Iran, and their stencilwork, according to their website, has been featured on the streets of Turkey, Paris, San Francisco, and other major cities. The mural I chose is not even their only piece in a two-block radius. Both the work I chose and most of their other work confronts social and economic issues in a striking, graphic way. 

What It Is: The piece I chose caught my eye probably several months ago, and I've passed it many times. Basically, in the foreground, there is the black and white stencil of a policeman, smiling and looking friendly, but behind him there is a grey-scale shadow of him that depicts him holding his nightstick menacingly, and frowning. Visually, it is very striking, because although the grey-scale shadow is more subdued, the expression on his face and even his clothing have become more frightening. I believe, from the website, the image is called "Fake Smile". 

Why It's Cool: 

The NYPD is a controversial subject, especially right now. A couple months ago, there was that Twitter thing where the NYPD posted something like "share your photos with an NYPD officer" hoping it would foster a connection between the people and the police force, but instead they were met with staggering amounts of images of police brutality. As a New York City teenager, this theme hits close to home, because I've had firsthand experience with both good cops and bad cops. It's interesting to address the problems within the police department in such a simple illustration, but I think that this piece really carries it's message powerfully, despite it's simplicity and relatively small wall space. It caught my eye when it was first put up on the wall months ago, and when this assignment was given it was the first piece that popped into my mind, which says a lot about how striking it is. 

Here it is: "Fake Smile" by Icy And Sot. Waterbury Street between Scholes and Meserole, Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York City.