Downtown South Bend’s recent Mural Mania drew artists from around the country. But another mural has been recently painted by a South Bend native, celebrating the history and culture of the city’s west side.
On Thursday at 5 p.m., representatives from Notre Dame’s Institute for Social Concerns invite the public to celebrate another mural painted this week. It covers the wall of Faith Deliverance Center, a church at 1415 Lincolnway West run by Pastor Darryl Murdock and his wife Kathleen.
The artist is Oscar Joyo, a Clay High School graduate who works out of Chicago. He painted four well-known South Bend figures: civil rights activist Gladys Muhammad, boxer Harold Brazier, youth leader Charles Martin, and Rosemary Sanders, the first Black member of the South Bend Symphony.
In between those people, called “exemplars,” are scenes depicting noted West Side people and places like the Sunrise Cafe, Kidz Kompany Day Care and the group Gentlemen and Scholars.
“I think those are really important because those are the community threads that hold us all together," says Mike Hebbeler, assistant director of the institute. "So really it’s a celebration of West Side exemplars but also the rich community along the Lincolnway West corridor and Oscar has just really done a phenomenal job capturing that and celebrating it.”
NOTE: Notre Dame is a financial supporter of WVPE.
