Dynamite Hill mural

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Dynamite Hill mural

The Dynamite Hill mural is a painted mural facing a vacant lot on the west side of the one-story commercial building at 323-331 Reverend Abraham Woods Jr Boulevard, across from Parker High School in Smithfield. It was painted in 2004 by G. Bodile Balams in a project supported by city and community leaders.

The mural depicts several abstract figures in a landscape with green hills and rows of houses in the background. One figure holds an ankh, and a large white butterfly is shown in the foreground.

In 2017 Darryl Grant and Melissa King extended the mural with an image of former President Barack Obama and the quotation, "Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek."

The image of Obama's face was vandalized with black spray paint in the Summer of 2019. Grant repainted the image, but it was vandalized again in September, with the vandal also painting the words "I am versus I was" over the Dynamite Hill mural. Grant and Balams have pledged to restore both murals.

References

  • Clark, Michael (September 23, 2019) "Mural of Barack Obama defaced in Birmingham’s Smithfield neighborhood." CBS42.com
  • Dionne, Brittany (September 24, 2019) "Two artists send message to person who vandalized mural of former president Barack Obama." WBRC.com