Isabella Smith/Alexandria Living Magazine
Blueprint for Peace, a mural at Bradlee Shopping Center in Alexandria.
A collaborative mural by students and local artists to symbolize peace in the community has added some color to Bradlee Shopping Center in Alexandria.
Artists Nicole Bourgea and Roberto Seminario collaborated with students at Alexandria City High School to find out what type of art the students wanted to see in their community. The result was "Blueprint for Peace."
With ongoing tension between the high school and Bradlee Shopping Center, the students and artists decided that a message of peace was warranted in this area. In the past few years, shop owners have said misbehaving teens have created problems, get into fights and drive away customers, particularly just after school. Violence has caused some businesses to hire private security, and the Alexandria Police Department has increased its presence there.
Bourgea, a D.C. area native, strongly believes in the power of public art to inspire people, create inclusive spaces, and foster community.
Seminario, also known as Sef, was born in Peru. Sef’s career in art started when he was young, learning the art of graffiti with friends in his neighborhood. Today, Sef works in realism graffiti.
Bourgea and Sef hold the values of promoting community within their art.
“This was a collaborative effort,” said Bourgea. Each of the students that were involved with the project came up with their own sketches.
The sketches that the students and artists came up with would eventually all blend together to create the mural that is seen today.
The mural does not only serve as a beautification project for the shopping center, but it also serves as a sign of unity.
“This mural aims to make the shopping center a peaceful third space for students between their home lives, and school lives,” said Bourgea.
The mural, taking up an entire brick wall adjacent to Virginia Vacuums, depicts three young children, poppy flowers, childlike drawings, and traditional style graffiti spelling out “peace” three times.
The children and childlike drawings dispersed throughout the mural symbolize youth and being a child at heart.
The poppy flowers symbolize peace, connecting to the message of peace and unity between the students and Bradlee.
The blue graffiti spelling out “peace” three times across the bottom of the mural might be confused as an act of vandalism on the mural, but it is a key pillar to the message of the mural.
Through this collaborative effort, students at ACHS can look at this mural knowing that they helped to create a space for peace that will leave a long-lasting impact on the community.
