Saint Louis University Joins The Walls Off Washington with Mural on Searls Hall

Saint Louis University’s Searls Hall, located at 3301 Locust St., is home to the latest addition to The Walls Off Washington. 

The Kranzberg Arts Foundation’s The Walls Off Washington features 20 thought-provoking murals by renowned artists from around the world. The murals are painted on and off walls in Grand Center, with most between Josephine Baker Blvd. and N. Leonard Ave.

This spring, artist Lady Pink came to St. Louis to paint “Endangered Enwildment,” a mural created with both acrylic and spray paint on one side of Searls Hall.

Alienor De Smedt and Cathy Taylor, studio art minors in the Department of Fine and Performing Arts, assisted with the painting.

“We were delighted to grow our partnership with the Kranzberg Arts Foundation (KAF) by extending their Walls Off Washington mural project onto a SLU building. The murals in the project provide inspiring, colorful enlivenment of our mid-town area,” said Cathleen Fleck, Ph.D., department chair in Fine and Performing Arts. “We also are so grateful to Lady Pink for sharing her process with some of our students, giving them a first-hand experience of this vibrant visual art form. We appreciate the KAF’s support of the arts in St. Louis around SLU.”

According to the artist, “Endangered Enwildment” is about human influence on plants and animals. Most of the plants and animals featured in the mural are endangered, except for the iguana. This particular iguana is named Cleopatra and was Lady Pink’s beloved pet. 

About the Artist

Lady Pink was born in Ecuador and raised in New York City. When she started writing graffiti at 15, she became known as the only female capable of competing with the boys in the graffiti subculture during 1979-1985. She has been considered a cult figure in the hip-hop subculture since the release of the motion picture “Wild Style” in 1982, in which she starred. She began exhibiting paintings in galleries while still in high school and, at 21, had her first solo exhibition. As a leading participant in the rise of graffiti-based art, Lady Pink’s canvases have entered collections such as the Whitney Museum, the MET NYC, the Brooklyn Museum, the Tate Modern London, The MoMA NYC, the Museum of Fine Art in Boston, and many others. 

Today, she is well documented as a community activist, creating murals throughout the world and mobilizing artists to create in culturally neglected communities. She has brought her artwork full circle from the subways to galleries, and back to working-class neighborhoods. Lady Pink and her husband Smith are one of the few professional mural teams to arise from the graffiti subculture. She now shares her many decades of experience by holding mural workshops with students and actively lecturing in universities throughout the U.S.