the street is our gallery

American Contemporary artist Nina Chanel Abney completed her latest site specific mural alongside the Bentonville Razorback greenway trail, opposite the recently inaugurated art space The Momentary, bringing her signature bold style to the Northwest Arkansas community.

Known for broaching topics as diverse as race, celebrity, religion, politics, or gender, the artist, invited by women-led global curator group Justkids and Bentonville art organization OZ Art and in partnership with Unexpected , has created a mural untitled “Mull It Over” where one can read STOP – DON’T KILL -LOVE – BLACK, in which Chanel Abney combined representation and abstraction with a message of love and human embrace in a historical context. A statement on the longstanding racial crisis and the nonsensical killing of black men, women and children echoing the Black Lives Matter protest chants. In reference to developing the public art piece, the artist said: “My starting point for the mural was thinking about the things that have been going on in the last year, and historically, and about how it can’t be unity unless everyone is respected equally.”

The piece is part of the public art initiative called ARkanvas, astatewide engagement curated by Justkids and commissioned by OZ Art, justkids.art bringing public art by world-renowned artists to Arkansas communities.

This is not the first time Justkids have worked to bring public art to the Northwest Arkansas. Since 2015 they have curated and produced over 50 pieces from sculptures to installations, performances, murals and pop-up exhibitions for institutions, cities and organizations.

Project: ARkanvas by OZ Art – Curator: Charlotte Dutoit for Justkids
Date: November 2020 – Location: Bentonville – Partner: Unexpected