nashville public art

Today is Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Given all that is happening in the United States right now, his wisdom would certainly be welcomed in 2021. Indeed, if you read his Letter from a Birmingham Jail (1963), there is much that he said 60 years ago that is still relevant today.

This is a very recent mural of Dr. King by Charles Key, who usually signs his work as JamersonSGC and also “Low Key Art.” The truth is, Key has done a lot of murals I haven’t gotten to yet, but I thought this is the day to post this one, even though there are at least five or six others I need to write about.

Like a lot of Key’s work, the King portrait is found along Lafayette street, a neighborhood which is predominantly African-American. Many of Key’s murals feature Black history and culture. On the same building where this mural is found, Key also has portraits of Jimi Hendrix and Erykah Baydu (which I haven’t blogged about yet) and a Black masked nurse who stands as a homage to the Covid-19 first responders.

The King portrait is based on a widely distributed photo, which is sometimes shown in reverse. It is so widely spread it was difficult to locate a photo credit – most people seem to think it’s in general use. I finally found this on an Atlanta-Journal Constitution article: “Martin Luther King Jr. listens to other staff members of SCLC during a meeting at an Atlanta restaurant. (Photo by © Flip Schulke/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images).” Schulke was a widely-respected freelance photographer whose work has appeared in papers and magazines around the world. He met King in 1958 and spent a decade photographing him and the movement. It’s interesting that an image from such an ordinary moment has become so iconic.

Located at 125 Lafayette Street, on the building that houses Southside Market and Deli and Big G’s. The mural faces, perhaps appropriately, Lincoln Street. There is some street parking in the immediate area.

That is what the artist Charles Key, who signs his work JamersonSGC and also Low Key Art, called this work in an Instagram post. It is of course portraits of four African-Americans killed by police. Two are known world-wide, George Floyd and Breonna Taylor. The other two men, on the left and right of Floyd, respectively, are Jocques Clemmons and Daniel Hambrick, both killed by officers of the MNPD. Strikingly, Taylor is draped with crime scene tape in a way that suggests a beauty queen’s sash.

Key created this mural back in June, painting over a previous mural of his which I featured in The full bee (an update). It is both coincidence and not that I am posting this only now, just after the outcome of the grand jury investigation of the death of Breonna Taylor, which resulted in protests around the country, including Nashville. I finally got a chance to photograph it very recently, and the timing seemed appropriate.

Key told WSMV (Channel 4), “Some people march. I paint murals.” He has certainly been doing a lot of that recently, with murals of John Lewis, Chadwick Boseman (Black Panther), and former Titan’s quarterback Steve McNair, among others. Key also talked to WTVF (Channel 5) about this mural, and you can see some of his other work there. The reality is I’m way behind on posting all of his work.

The location of this art is significant. It’s a grocery store across from the J.C. Napier homes, a large housing project whose residents are primarily African-American. But Eddie’s Cee Bee Food Store has been closed for a couple of years, and neighborhood residents no longer have a grocery store they can walk to, and have to go much farther to get groceries. The building is for lease, so perhaps some new owner will put in a grocery store in the future.

Located at 109 Lafayette Street, between Wharf Avenue/Charles E Davis Boulevard and Claiborne Street. The former grocery store has a large parking lot. (Look carefully at the photo below and you can see my red Honda Fit!) The mural faces Lafayette.