Harambee Area Gets Breonna Taylor Mural

Breonna Taylor mural. Photo by Graham Kilmer.

Another mural has gone up on N. Holton Street memorializing a victim of a police killing.

At the corner of E. Locust Avenue and N. Holton Street, in the Harambee neighborhood, a mural of Breonna Taylor was painted Tuesday. It was created by two of the artists that worked on the mural of George Floyd, painted June 4th.

Breonna Taylor was killed in March by police officers in Louisville, an incident has been frequently cited as a key example of injustice by those protesting the death of Floyd.

Chris Burke, a tattoo artist from Ghost Light Tattoo Parlor, told Urban Milwaukee it was an honor to paint Taylor’s mural. Burke called Taylor a “true American hero” who deserves to “be celebrated, that should be on walls.”

The mural is on another building owned by Ihsan Atta, who offered his building to local artists for a George Floyd mural. He told Urban Milwaukee last week that he wanted the Floyd mural to be a conversation starter and a way to build community. “People need to educate themselves and need to get out of their comfort zone and become friends or befriend people of color,” he said.

Ruben Alcantar, owner of Black Rabbit Tattoo in Bay View, worked on the Dontre Hamilton portrait on the George Floyd mural. He said that piece generated a significant community response. “People coming by honking, coming up giving us hugs.”

This is the second memorial in less than a week these artists have worked on. Burke said tattoo artists are used to working on emotional subjects, “we all the time are tattooing memorials on people.”

And there could be more tributes to Breonna Taylor to come.

“Honestly, until she gets justice, until they put the people who killed her away,” Burke said, “we’re gonna paint her everywhere.

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