Change Makers combines bricolage mosaic on wall and acrylic on panels to create this 75×15 piece in the North Lawndale neighborhood of Chicago. It was created in 2005 by Damon Lamar Reed and Moses X. Ball with the assistance of 15 students, grades 9-12. The project began with a community meeting in Lawndale to discuss themes for the project and members expressed interest in themes of community, entrepreneurship, family, love, prosperity, creativity, hope, and faith. The idea of “change makers” was born from these discussions. For Damon Lamar Reed, a change maker is “someone who is really making moves and making it happen. As a society many of us get comfortable in the positions we are in. After becoming comfortable, people start to believe that the spot in between the rock and the hard place is where they belong.”
Work on the mural began with weeks of training the student apprentices in the basic elements of art and design and eventually progressing to working with glass. The result is a vibrant piece that includes depictions of actual community members. In the center of the bricolage there is a man pouring water on himself. This is an image of a baptism; the man is reborn, renewed, and replenished. According to Reed, “he is a symbol that no matter what phase of life you are in, it is not too late to make a change. You can still accomplish your dreams.” In other parts of the mural, a mother pushing a stroller uphill represents the struggle of many families with children, a grandmother wrapped in a quilt is a symbol of wisdom in the community, and a woman with wings depicts hope.
