Brooklyn Paper: Brooklyn Org and Groundswell unveil mural spreading love and celebrating borough’s spirit

Published in Brooklyn Paper

A vibrant “love letter” to Brooklyn, in the form of a 550-square-foot mural, is being painted on a blank facade of Atlantic Terminal Mall in Downtown Brooklyn.

The mural, created in partnership between Brooklyn Org and Groundswell, is part of Brooklyn Org’s new advertising campaign, “Show Brooklyn Some Love,” which launched this summer. The campaign encourages Brooklynites to actively support grassroots organizations driving social change in their communities.

Work on the mural began with a “Community Paint Day” on Aug. 15. Community members, alongside Groundswell artists and Brooklyn Org members, laid the first brush strokes. The mural is scheduled to be unveiled in September.

Designed by Groundswell artist-in-residence Carlos Mateu and a group of youth artists, the mural features a collage of iconic Brooklyn symbols and scenes, including friends and neighbors on a brownstone stoop, a child playing basketball, the Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower, cherry blossoms and Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel, among other highlights.

Groundswell youth artist Helina Lo told Brooklyn Paper that working on such a large-scale project was a new experience for her and that incorporating various aspects of Brooklyn was exciting.

“I’m from Flushing, Queens, so it was really cool just walking around the neighborhoods and seeing all the different murals and the art that’s already present in Brooklyn and how we can incorporate that into this mural,” Lo said.

Groundswell offers a range of programs throughout the year, including a free after-school program for budding artists. Claudine DeSola, Groundswell’s communications specialist, said the organization’s goal is to provide creative opportunities for the next generation of artists.

“We have a Summer Leadership Institute program where we create at least two or three murals during the summer. We also sometimes do partnerships on larger murals,” DeSola explained.

Before picking up the paintbrush, Dr. Jocelynne Rainey, president and CEO of Brooklyn Org, told Brooklyn Paper that the mural was a “gift” to Brooklyn and represents everything she loves about the borough. The mural is located “right around the corner” from Brooklyn Org’s new office space. Rainey said art was a great way to introduce Brooklyn Org and Brooklyn’s nonprofit organizations to the community.

“We wanted to make sure that we are deeply connected to not only Brooklyn but also to the nonprofit community,” Rainey said. “It came from us really thinking deeply about how we want to promote our work, our relationships with our nonprofits, and our relationship with Brooklyn. It’s like the intersection of all of that.”

Rainey, a lifelong Brooklynite, said her favorite part of the mural is the stoop scene.

“When I used to live in Park Slope, many, many years ago, and I was a young woman still renting, I said, ‘I can’t wait until I have my own stoop where I could have my friends over and have a glass of wine.’ Now I have my home in Bedford-Stuyvesant, and I love being on my block.”

Brooklyn Org’s chief of staff, Liane Stegmaier, said the organization wanted to include community involvement in addition to the advertising campaign, which features billboards and subway and bus ads. For Stegmaier, the mural embodies everything that “makes Brooklyn special” and provides an opportunity to work with longtime partner Groundswell, which received the Brooklyn Org Spark Prize in 2022.

“This opportunity to partner with them on a mural was a great way to take the theme of the campaign ‘Show Brooklyn Some Love’ and express it in a community-designed art piece,” Stegmaier said.

Jorge Jefferson learned about the event from his aunt, Rev. Gena Jefferson, president and CEO of JAIA Youth. The Flatbush Junction resident appreciated the mural’s positive message and its impact on the community.

“There’s so much to Brooklyn, and this captures a very positive side, and I like that,” Jefferson said.