Pennsylvania has transformed itself into an artistic haven, ushering in a wave of public art exhibits. In urban and deindustrialized neighborhoods, a growing presence of street art offers insight into each community’s past. What does street art encompass? Historical monuments, meticulous mosaics, and, the most popular medium of contemporary creators, murals.

The Community Empowerment Association (CEA) was founded in 1993 in order to establish an organized, structural approach to address the specific needs of at-risk youth and families in distressed, marginalized communities, and has its base of operations in the Homewood neighborhood. The CEA building is a site for an expansive mural, “The Liberation Wall”, depicting over 400 years of Black history and perseverance.

Wilkinsburg native and muralist Kyle Holbrook created the mural as an immersive display of the often underrepresented and erased history of Black Americans. Community members and visitors will find familiar faces as they walk along the building, such as historical figures Booker T. Washington and Malcom X, entertainers Billie Holiday and Nipsey Hussle, and athletic trailblazers Jesse Owens and Muhammad Ali.

The design phase of the mural began in 2017, and it was finished three years later with recent historical additions since its completion. Holbrook has painted hundreds of murals in the region, as well as a few internationally.

Several murals and street art mediums line the intersection of Ann and East 8^th Street in the borough of Homestead. Designed by Ian Green and Lauren Hinnish in 2008, this collection of murals includes various depictions of the people of the community, while touching on its history as a hub of steel production and the strike of 1892.

Panels along the wall feature a mixture of the artists’ work, as well as collections of square tiles designed and completed by local children and members of the community, telling different vignettes that often complement, intertwine, or nod to each other. Although each mural features different subjects and parts of history, they all share a common theme: community unity and empowerment.

Another mural, located within the borough of Swissvale, celebrates the town’s history as an industrial powerhouse. In 2007, Anthony Purcell designed and completed “Trainscape: Community and Industry”, which depicts the story of industrialist George Westinghouse establishing his railroad equipment supply conglomerate in Swissvale in the 1800s. Westinghouse’s Union Switch and Signal company initially allowed the community an economic insurgence and development, with many residents working for the company, until it withdrew in 1985.

The mural encompasses a large, vintage train that captures both the essence of the community and its history. The large bald eagle in front of the train, as well as the steel workers that sit at the crown of the mural, are intentional symbols of both patriotism and honoring the dedication of the borough’s laborers. The mural comprised the entire side of the building and extends to the front. On the extended portion, a large car sits in front of homes and is surrounded by flowers and clouds, conveying a tale of two Swissvales, past and present.

In the northwestern corridor of the state, Greenville offers a larger-than-life symbolic display of its community. Artist Berry Breene designed the expansive mural with the intention of capturing the soul of the community, past and present.

The mural is housed on one of Greenville’s busiest roadways, central to the small town’s downtown area. Showcasing a blend of history and activity, the mural highlights Greenville’s past as a railroad and multi-industry magnate, having been home to several steel and factory mills. Breene also incorporated modern symbols of the community such as the covered bridge, the kayak, and wildlife.

Street art conveys the unique identity of each community and their complex histories and provides a forum for members of the community to come together, contribute, and showcase their individual voices and messages. Public art captures the visual component of both national and local history, as well as the people who lived it, in a way that textbooks cannot, and in a form that resonates on a multitude of levels. Make sure to check out these murals and other mediums of public art in Pennsylvania: https://www.sproutfund.org/program/murals/.