APE MADE
Ape_Bleakney_In_Place_Van_Aken_Van Aken Mural (FINAL, Teal).jpg

In Place / Van Aken Bowser Alley

2020

Created during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic quarantine.

This 10’ x 8’ mural was made for the Bowser Alley of the Van Aken District in Shaker Heights, Ohio, in conjunction with LAND studio.


 
Ape_Bleakney_Bowser_Alley_Van Aken Mural (FINAL, Teal) copy.jpg

In-Place, Digital Composition, 10’x8’, 2020

 

The Van Aken District’s theme of the series was ‘Amazing neighborhoods are the product of amazing neighbors”. Given that I was creating the piece in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic and quarantine, I viewed this project as an opportunity to create a hopeful and timely visual response to current events, to be shared in a communal space. Thoughts and considerations on how we come together while remaining distant and largely in our own individual homes during this crisis were the basis in my design. While the vision for this piece is inspired by themes directly related to the pandemic, I aimed to give the piece an uplifting and timeless relevancy as well. 

 

I built this piece digitally using a variety of homes and dwellings based on original photographs, with human figures and visual representations of communication from afar. This artwork includes imagery from Cleveland, Spain (the countryside near Montserrat, Barcelona, Girona), Scotland (Edinburgh), and Chile (Santiago) - and center around the quarantine, thinking about: togetherness (despite distance), communication, neighborhoods, interconnectedness, community response, nature, and global connection. The designs are all monochromatic, with hand pulled paper I made last year used as basis for the background and atmospheric color.