Aretha Franklin mural in Detroit gets defaced
A mural that was painted to honor the late Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin was heartbreakingly vandalized in her hometown of Detroit.
Richard Wilson, a London-based artist, drew the mural which hoped to immortalize one of Franklin's album covers. After finding out that someone poured paint over his work, he decided to head back and fix it up in the city's Eastern Market.
According to Detroit Free Press, the mural was vandalized overnight after it was splattered in paint. The paint was left in a cherry picker, which made it easily accessible to those who vandalized it.
Aretha Franklin mural vandalized overnight at Detroit's Eastern Market. >> https://t.co/D5bjGVKtFB pic.twitter.com/AMghuYKl9t
— KTNV 13 Action News (@KTNV) October 1, 2018
Luckily for Richard, he was still in the area when he found out about what happened. In fact, the vandalization happened on the same night that he completed his work.
“I finished it yesterday evening … all happy….I came back this morning just to tidy up a bit, check if there’s anything I missed or anything. It’s like they had a paint party here, and it’s just splattered all over the place,”
A Detroit Aretha Franklin mural was vandalized just days after its debut: https://t.co/dcs5c5rKmL pic.twitter.com/7Fd8BDGVF1
— ESSENCE (@Essence) October 2, 2018
Heartbreaking for any artist, Wilson was in disbelief with what he saw, as he only went back to add up some finishing touches. However, he ended up having to re-touch the entire thing due to the vandalization.
According to the artist, he spent 12 days working on the piece for "Murals in the Market" public art event. Photos on Twitter and Instagram show that Richard's was not the only one who did murals on Aretha, as there are a lot more scattered around the area.
Inside Aretha Franklin's final years https://t.co/x1L95KH6pe pic.twitter.com/DbaZNWkTxS
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) September 29, 2018
In another mural, Aretha's face was painted over the side of a two-story building, and it is also a part of the "Murals in the Market" project. However, given this painting's strategic location, it was not vandalized.
It is unclear what the motives of those who vandalized it were, especially since Aretha was known to be a good citizen of Detroit. In her last dying wish, it wasn't actually dedicated to her family, but to a small town in Michigan called Flint. According to Aretha, it's been years since the area had a proper water supply, and the singer wanted to ensure that if she were to be remembered for something aside from her music, it's that she was able to make a difference for this small community.
Richard Wilson, a London-based artist in Detroit for #MuralsInTheMarket, is fixing up his mural featuring Aretha Franklin and other famous Detroit records after it was splattered by paint left in a cherry picker and inadvertently vandalized overnight. @freep pic.twitter.com/qxGwKYBNE1
— Aleanna Siacon (@AleannaSiacon) September 29, 2018
Given her selflessness to the people of Michigan, it is unclear why someone or a group of people have decided to deface her mural in Detroit, as it is her hometown.
The mural Wilson is fixing up is painted on the rear of the Gratiot Central Market, near the now-closed Busy Bee Hardware Store on Gratiot Avenue @EasternMarket pic.twitter.com/8AsFp3ouFu
— Aleanna Siacon (@AleannaSiacon) September 29, 2018
However, everything is much better now that the mural has been re-touched, and people can now admire the beauty of the artwork.
