* Local artists have painted more than 60 public murals since 2018
* Kingston’s downtown is known for gang violence and squatters
* One restaurant has seen 25% revenue boost since project started
By Kate Chappell
KINGSTON, Jamaica, June 2 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – In the five years Alvin McGowan has owned Annali’s, a restaurant in downtown Kingston, he has never seen so many people walking around casually and unafraid – a remarkable sight given the area’s reputation as unsafe and rundown.
“The stigma of downtown at one time, the people were a bit afraid. But now it is different because of the murals on the walls,” McGowan, 55, said.
Vibrant, poignant murals have been appearing on the walls of Jamaica’s capital as part of Paint the City, a project by the nonprofit Kingston Creative to revive the city’s neglected downtown district and support the local arts community.
Since the project’s launch in 2018, locals say the area feels safer, and the flow of visitors and tourists coming to see the paintings is bringing in both interest and investment.
So far, more than 60 murals by local artists have gone up on the walls of buildings downtown and on Water Lane, a narrow thoroughfare within a warren of trash-strewn streets and derelict buildings with boarded-up doors and windows.
The murals showcase the artists’ personal experiences – such as the burden of wearing a mask during the pandemic – pay tribute to musicians like Bob Marley and even create the illusion of windows on the wall.
Some incorporate augmented reality, so when viewed through a phone camera they come to life with movement, music and narration.
“We have two goals. One is around people, and the other is around place,” said Andrea Dempster Chung, co-founder and managing director of Kingston Creative, which was founded in 2017.
“The former is the development of the creative people of Jamaica, and the latter is the development of downtown.”
