Love Letter
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Mural Arts Program collaborated with artist Steve Powers to create the Love Letter project, a series of 50 rooftop murals from 45th to 63rd Streets in West Philadelphia that are best viewed from the Market-Frankford elevated transit line. Powers, a former graffiti writer and internationally renowned artist, painted a sharp-witted, text-heavy series of murals that pay homage to the aesthetic of famous graffiti writers and use the fictional narrative of a local boy’s unrequited love for a girl as a metaphor for the artist’s love of the neighborhood of his youth. Against the distant city skyline, Powers adorned a bleak palate of walls and rooftops with visually arresting and playful murals that grow in power and meaning as viewers and train-riders absorb them through multiple viewings. The Love Letter project is a testament to the innovative role that Mural Arts intends to bring to the next generation of mural making. Project collaborators included Darin Rowland, Sean Schwabe, Sean Barton, George Thompson, Sam Meyerson, Dan Murphy, Mike Levy, Mike Lee.