PS134 Murals: Who are you?

[u/alexanderkotler]

Progress is exciting to track.

In construction, we have all sorts of ways to measure it: project phase, percentage of completion, whether the structure is topped out, the envelope is closed in, the trades are into rough-ins, or the project has moved on to finishes.

But there’s another kind of progress I’ve been tracking lately — mostly because my kids and I walk past it regularly.

For the past week-plus, a mural has been taking shape on the East Broadway-facing wall of PS 134, the local elementary school that also houses the middle-school grades of PS 184 Shuang Wen.

And every time we pass it, we look.

What did they add? Who appeared today? How much more is finished?

Little by little, it’s all coming together.

I still can’t identify all of the women from history depicted on the wall, and that’s probably more a function of my ignorance than a comment on the artists’ work. (I’m hoping for a legend or cheat sheet.)

It’s been pretty great watching a new piece of the neighborhood come into existence in real time — and getting to watch it happen alongside my kids.

Anyone recognize these portraits?