This mural depicts the world-renowned poet, author and playwright Mari Evans (1923- ), who moved to Indianapolis in 1947 and spent the bulk of her writing career here.  Evans is known as one of the inspirations and leading lights of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to create a signature African-American aesthetic and perspective and infuse it into contemporary literature, visual arts, music and theater.
Evans’ work talks about the actions and ideals of the ... view more »
This mural depicts the world-renowned poet, author and playwright Mari Evans (1923- ), who moved to Indianapolis in 1947 and spent the bulk of her writing career here.  Evans is known as one of the inspirations and leading lights of the Black Arts movement of the 1960s and 1970s, which sought to create a signature African-American aesthetic and perspective and infuse it into contemporary literature, visual arts, music and theater.
Evans’ work talks about the actions and ideals of the Civil Rights Movement and about celebrating of Africa both as a place and a concept, as well as her personal experiences as a Black woman. Her catalogue includes include hundreds of poems, essays, articles, plays, criticism, fiction stories and even children’s books.  She is probably best known for her poems “Celebration” and “I Am A Black Woman,” and for her original musical “Eyes,” which adapted Zora Neale Hurston’s book Their Eyes were Watching God for the stage. Her contributions to Black history, women’s history, and the history of the 20th century are becoming more apparent as Evans enters the canon of American literature. She has been included in over 400 literary anthologies and in 2015 she received an Indiana Authors Lifetime Achievement Award from the Indianapolis-Marion County Public Library Foundation, only the second one ever given.
The mural’s artist, Michael “Alkemi” Jordan, is an Indianapolis resident and native. Â He has painted murals, portraits, and abstract compositions professionally since the 1970s, and has been writing poetry since the age of seven. Â Jordan has exhibited his work locally at Indiana Black Expo, the Crispus Attucks African American Museum, the annual “Meet the Artist” exhibition at the Central Library, and at the Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art. Â He is a member of the local Black artist group “I Am/We Are”.
The mural project was curated by Big Car Collaborative and was created with the Riley Area Development Corporation and support from the Indiana Arts Commission, as part of the Indiana Bicentennial Celebration, and The Efroymson Family Fund.
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