Detroit’s Neighborhoods and Even Its CEOs Are Embracing Street Art

Commissioned by automaker Stellantis and painted by Hubert Massey, this gigantic mural in the East Canfield neighborhood was made with input from the community and pays homage to the migration of Black Americans from the south to Detroit. (Photo by Emma Delahanty)

By Jada Flores

In 2019, when automaker Stellantis built its first Detroit assembly plant in 30 years, the company agreed to add some art to the massive wall that surrounds the plant. Detroit muralist Hubert Massey was commissioned to work on the piece. But before he got started, Massey had conversations with community members in the East Canfield neighborhood where the plant is located to see what they wanted.

“It was a joint effort,” Massey said of the resulting mural, which he painted on the 1,500-foot-long and 15-foot-high wall.

Rochelle Riley, director of the city’s office of arts, culture and entrepreneurship, says many communities and businesses are embracing street art. (Photo by Melani Bonilla)

The mural is an homage to the great migration of Black Americans from the South to the city of Detroit. They are seen taking trains, cars or walking on foot to arrive at a city where they hoped to find better jobs, often in auto plants. The number 313, representing the city’s area code, appears repeatedly throughout the piece.

It took Massey five months to finish the mural, which culminates in a portrait of a couple embracing with the sun in the background; the image, the artist explained, represents what lies ahead for Detroit. “A community that has a bright future,” he said.

Studies show that murals often bring the community together, which is particularly important in a city that has 19 square miles of vacant land. (Photo by Emma Delahanty)

Massey’s piece is one of 602 murals in Detroit, according to Rochelle Riley, director of the city’s office of arts, culture and entrepreneurship. She said many communities and businesses are embracing street art. “I had the CEO of a major company call and say, okay, we want a mural,” she said. “You wouldn’t have heard that five years ago.”

Detroit was ranked fifth in a recent survey of the best cities in the country for street art.

Studies show that murals often bring a community together, and help it shape its identity and values. And that’s particularly important in a city with 19 square miles of vacant land.

For many, there is a distinction between murals and graffiti, even though they are part of the same art form. (Photo by Emma Delahanty)

“They help people feel like their neighborhoods are not overlooked and forgotten,” said Tom Goddeeris, the chief operating officer of the local think tank Detroit Future City. “Even in places where the traditional economic metrics don’t look so good, it still makes a place that people care about.”

Reinaldo Perez, who works at a hotel in Corktown, Detroit’s oldest neighborhood, said that street art didn’t become popular in his area until about 10 years ago. “It was depressing living here and not seeing signs of life,” he said.

Many mural artists start out — and continue to work — as graffiti artists. Graffiti is an art form that uses public or private property as canvasses without permission and is often referred to as vandalism. (Photo by Melani Bonilla)

But street art can also get entangled in politics and controversy. Last October, Detroit’s department of planning and development commissioned seven murals ahead of this year’s NFL draft. The murals were painted by “international artists,” recruited by the New York-based group Street Art for Mankind. Local artists complained and Antoine Bryant, director of planning and development for Detroit, faced criticism for implementing the contract without the City Council’s approval, which stalled payment.

“The artists will be paid and the city is moving with a couple of private entities to ensure that the bill will be addressed,” said Bryant.

For many, there is also a distinction between murals and graffiti, even though they are part of the same art form. “There was a long time where graffiti artists felt like they weren’t welcomed and graffiti, the wrong kind, still isn’t,” Riley said. “The mayor doesn’t want any horrible graffiti.”

There are 602 murals in Detroit, and the city was ranked fifth in a recent survey of the best cities in the country for street art. (Photo by Emma Delahanty)

Many mural artists start out — and continue to work — as graffiti artists. Graffiti is an art form that uses public or private property as a canvass, without permission, and is often considered vandalism. At the same time, the success of artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Harring, who started out as graffiti artists on the streets of New York City and whose work is now on display at major museums, has helped elevate the urban art form.

In Detroit, some murals are also coming to specific neighborhoods through a federally funded program called Arts Alleys. One of them is Bailey Park. Katrina Watkins, founder and CEO of the Bailey Park Neighborhood Development Corporation in the McDougall-Hunt neighborhood, said the community’s alley project will include plants, flowers, benches, sculptures and murals. “The goal is to have more art that people can see in the neighborhood,” said Watkins. “It’s part of that beautification.”