This mural is on the side of a building that was tagged innumerable times. The mural is in the format of individual scenes on film. The scenes reflect famous Colorado and Denver buildings and natural wonders. Included are the State Flower (Columbine), State Capitol with its gilted dome, break dancing, bald eagles that winter in Colorado, various sports, etc.
"Denver murals call for peace
Posted: 08/04/2010 07:41:38 AM MDT Author: Charmaine Robledo
Teens who once tagged are now painting positive messages
Giovanni Parra used to tag sides of buildings with his nickname. The 17-year-old, who's been in trouble with the law for his graffiti habits since he was 14, now is tagging in a different sort of way.
He is one of a handful of teens helping paint the latest peace mural in Denver.
The mural - which is receiving final touches today on the southwest corner of West 13th Avenue and Osage Street in the La Alma/Lincoln Park neighborhood - joins seven others citywide.
The murals are billed as messages of hope in communities often riddled with gang violence.
It's an initiative created by GRASP or Gang Rescue and Support Project, an intervention program in Denver that works with youth who are at-risk of gang involvement or are presently in gangs.
The first mural, which went up in 2007 in the Cole neighborhood, was a symbolic call to "cease fire" after a slew of gang killings in Denver, said Johnny Santos, community outreach coordinator for GRASP.
"We tell the community, 'This is yours,'" Santos said. "They're billboards for our community for the love of our children. You rarely hear that."
Through GRASP and the Day Reporting Program - a Denver juvenile probation program that allows teens on probation to go through an eight-week rehabilitation course instead of going to jail - teens, like Parra, who were once the ones tagging, are now removing graffiti and able to prove their artistic abilities in other ways.
"I'm doing community service by doing something I like to do," Parra said. "I used to tag and this is giving me a way to do it legally and do something positive for the community."
The result is a 100-foot mural on what otherwise would be the side of a building that's been painted and repainted to cover up graffiti. This mural is a tribute to the U.S., Colorado and Denver's culture with images of the mountains and downtown painted across a giant drawn film reel.
Once a mural is painted on a building that normally gets tagged, the taggers stop, Santos said.
"You never disrespect a mural," Parra said. That's just a common rule."
As for Parra's future as a tagger, he said, "I'm not going to do it again because it will get me into worse trouble. It's not worth it."
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