Photo by Josephine Figueroa
This project celebrates and honors the women, sisters, mothers, and daughters that help build and sustain our communities. With the help of three different artists and groups of students from different backgrounds, “Ladies to the Front” brings their voices into this conversation to inspire the content of each mural. We are honoring historical to contemporary perspectives through the vision of the following artists and student groups: Bree Stallings x Time Out Youth, Elisa Sanchez x OurBRIDGE For KIDS, and Sloane Siobhan x Here For Good.
Elisa Sanchez x OurBRIDGE for KIDS
Elisa Sanchez is an artist and illustrator based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
OurBRIDGE For KIDS is the only non-faith-based organization in Charlotte and surrounding areas that tends to the academic and socio-emotional needs of refugee and immigrant children and their families.
“Working with the girls at OurBRIDGE, we sat and chatted about some of the ups and downs of being a woman, and how we feel connected to each other and our planet. A lot of the conversation revolved around nurturing and nature, but also breaking cycles of negative self-talk and negative speak toward other girls. My piece takes the imagery of the ouroboros, which is used as a symbol of wholeness and cycles of renewal, interrupted with bursts of colorful flowers and beauty to bridge the gaps.”
Sloane Siobhan x Here For Good
Sloane Siobhan is a mixed media oil painter, tattoo artist, and muralist from Charlotte, North Carolina, currently based in Las Vegas, Nevada. Her work lifts the veil between fact and fiction, alluding to folklore/mythology, and intertwining abstract with realism by combining fluid color with portraiture.
“Stand in your power authentically, black woman. Don’t let the world poach your spirit or dim your light. You are divine, now shine!”
Bree Stallings x Time Out Youth
Breanna "Bree" Stallings is North Carolina native multi-media artist, illustrator, writer, and activist. Using art as her vehicle, she raises awareness for many causes that affect her life and those closest to her such as economic mobility, sexual health advocacy, displacement and homelessness, and environmental consciousness. For this project, Bree led the team in organizing with three local community groups along with lesson plans for each artist.
Time Out Youth offers support, advocacy, and opportunities for personal development and social interaction to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and questioning (LGBTQ) youth ages 13-24.
“Working with students at Time Out Youth, a local LGBTQIA+ organization, I co-curated a design that challenges gender norms and how they inform so many of our interactions and identities in the Bible Belt of the South. We were really inspired by how different species of animals also have gender roles (lionesses hunt and and provide for the pack while mothering). The dogwood blossoms represent the complicatedly beautiful state of North Carolina and how our issues can seem so black and white when really there is a spectrum to be embraced, one that is empowering for everyone.”