Downtown Brooklyn is now an open−air public art gallery, thanks to a 200−foot−long mural painted along the Tillary Street concrete traffic barrier, which offers viewers a kaleidoscopic narrative of the similarities between humans and the common bee.
“Worker Bees,” a collaboration between the Groundswell Community Mural Project and the New York City Department of Transportation, was unveiled during a dedication ceremony at Tillary and Jay Streets by artists from Groundswell’s Teen Empowerment Mural Apprenticeship (TEMA) program, agency officials and elected leaders and members of the community.
The thought−provoking mosaic and acrylic composition focuses upon the “human interaction and interference with nature,” starting at the beginning of the concrete divide and ending at the traffic light at Cadman Plaza where people travel to and from work.
Groundswell is a New York−based nonprofit organization, which uses art “as a tool for social change,” uniting professional artists, local groups and youth to beautify the urban landscape by creating more public art projects in communities across the Big Apple.
The Downtown Brooklyn Partnership will steward the upkeep and maintenance of the barrier mural.
