by Tanya Zwahlen

I can’t stop talking about our new Wall\Therapy mural.

Do you know about Wall\Therapy? It’s a Rochester-based public community-level intervention that “uses mural art as a vehicle to address our collective need for inspiration.” The project began by Dr. Ian Wilson in 2012. Every year, artists from around the world come to the City of Rochester on the same week to install murals. In it’s fourth year, the program has contributed a great deal art and inspiration to our city, and it has also sparked a public dialogue about art and community.

In April, Lisa Kribs-Lapierre from TGW Studio proposed the idea of a mural for our new home at 820 South Clinton Avenue. We called our friend Erich from Wall\Therapy, he came to check out the building, and and it all came together quickly. He proposed work by an amazing artist named Handiedan who is based in Amsterdam. She looked at photos of the building, sent us a concept, we loved it, and before we knew it, she was here in Rochester getting to work.

The end result is better than we could have imagined. It’s a wheat paste mural called “Bollywood Sugar.” It’s a powerful piece that helps to achieve the vision we have for our revitalized building as a new landmark for the city.

Many many many thanks to Handiedan, Wall\Therapy, Urban Nation Berlin, and all the people who came by to offer their support and encouragement over the last few weeks. We know we will enjoy  this piece for many years to come.

Please stop by and check it out.