The City of West Hollywood is debuting a new mural at West Hollywood City Hall on its east-facing exterior wall facing N. Sweetzer Avenue. The mural celebrates LGBTQ Pride and is installed as part of the City’s WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival. City Hall is located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard. The LGBTQ Arts Festival is part of the City of West Hollywood’s annual Pride celebration.
‘Our Pride’ by artist LaToya D. Peoples features four hands to symbolize aspects of LGBTQ equality and activism. The first hand is in a rising fist shape, symbolizing the fight against oppression throughout history. Next, a painter’s hand, symbolizing LGBTQ creativity and openness as a community. A hand holding a sunflower comes next, as a symbol for self-love and seeking light. And finally, a hand in a classic peace sign. The background color is a gradient bright blue sky, symbolic of the progress the LGBTQ community has made and will continue to make. Each hand is painted as a realistic representation of the diverse people of our communities.
LaToya D. Peoples is a BIPOC, queer, multidisciplinary artist, educator, and entrepreneur working in the realms of visual art, public/community arts, and design. Her work focuses on figuration, natural elements, color, and pattern, as a way of exploring identity and history. She carries these themes over to her mural and sculptural installation work, creating transformative pieces guided by youth and community engagement. Her commissioned works live in the collections of University Maryland Medical Center, Denver Urban Arts & Venues, Baltimore Office of Promotion and Arts, and Baltimore Department of Parks and Recreation.
Peoples has also worked as an educator and coordinator for visual arts programming in Pennsylvania and Maryland. She has served youth and adults through teaching partnerships with the Baltimore City Public School System, National Museum of Ceramic Art, Arts Everyday, Jubilee Arts Center, Enoch Pratt Free Library, and the McDonogh School.
‘Our Pride’ will be on display through Sunday, April 30, 2023 at West Hollywood City Hall, located at 8300 Santa Monica Boulevard.
The WeHo Pride LGBTQ Arts Festival runs over the course of 40 days from May 22 (Harvey Milk Day) through the end of Pride Month (June 30) in-person at various locations throughout West Hollywood, along with selected online programming. For full details about the Festival and for information about #WeHoPride weekend (June 3-5, 2022) events, please visit www.weho.org/pride.
For more information about the Our Pride mural, please contact Mike Che, Arts Coordinator, City of West Hollywood at (323) 848-6377 or mche@weho.org. For people who are Deaf or hard of hearing, please call TTY (323) 848-6496.
Just a thought but if you look at Latoya Peoples past projects, it’s possible she may have been manipulated into this project to highlight LBGTQIA goals.
This is a very bad mural of art. It is pandering to the white left (ie. Biden’s commitment towards black women). It tries to paint a picture of Weho being a diverse (aka black) community – and only serves to make the white city council and its staff feel good about being part of the 1% of Weho.
I wonder how much cash she slurpped up for this questionable piece of “art”? Maybe Andrew Campbell can chime in. Was he behind this?
Childlike art. Belongs at high school. Why?
These outdoor murals began when “tagging” and other graffiti was ruining deep urban areas, so the thought was to just give in to these vandals and let them express themselves in a more positive way by giving them walls to, instead, take some pride in. None of their art was really any good but it did cut down on the graffiti.
West Hollywood doesn’t have that problem, so ….. why?
Why? Because we really don’t have diversity here, so murals like this are painted to make it look like we’re part of the cool club. It’s basically an element of drag for a city full of white privileged people.
Has WeHo discouraged diversity? Has anyone of color been denied the opportunity to live here or to open a business? So are you suggesting we go out and recruit POC to come here? Anyone who wants to live in West Hollywood can. The bottom line is, for the most part, they apparently don’t want to live here. Maybe they prefer to live amongst people more like themselves. Maybe you should consider moving where they are to make their neighborhood more diverse.
These days, it’s nearly impossible for most people to start a business in West Hollywood, unless they have a lot of money or support from someone who is wealthy. The process of getting a building permit, for example, costs thousands of dollars, and is out of reach for the average person. It’s not as easy as you think it is to live and work in West Hollywood. It’s not that people, including BIPOC, don’t want to live here, or to do business here, it’s too expensive. The City could help by trimming useless staff to reduce costs and get rid… Read more »
Many, possible most, people don’t want to live in Weho at any cost. There’s plenty of other great places to live. Weho ain’t the only game in town.
That would be true for anyone, no matter what color they are.
You have drifted from your point.
Maybe I should say it in a more explicit way, that might make more sense to you. White people are more likely to have the resources to live in an expensive place like West Hollywood. The City could do something effective to help people of color live and work in West Hollywood, such as reducing the many costs and fees that the City requires to do anything here. Instead, they do things like paint murals and form commissions to create the illusion that they care. Make sense? If you’ve ever opened a business here, or tried to get a building… Read more »
So, are you suggesting that landlords reduce the rent for POC? That would be discriminatory.
The black and Hispanic people I hang out with make as much or more money as me. They would roll their eyes at your condescension. Some black people I have known wouldn’t want to live in WeHo because of all the gays (their words!).
You’ve made some general suggestions as to what should be done, but you need to be specific. Just how, specifically, would you create more diversity in WeHo?
Not sure why you would think I’m suggesting that landlords reduce their rent, since my suggestions were aimed at municipal government.
That is so nice that you have friends who aren’t white. Maybe you can get their input on the mural and see what they think.
General suggestions are enough, but you can take my lead and come up with some specific examples on your own. Please stick to suggestions related to our local government, not private entities.
xoxo, Mary
Glad you asked! I would do ….. absolutely nothing! Just leave us all alone. The market and demographic changes take care of themselves. They happen naturally, unless some do-gooder comes in and screws it up by imposing unnatural regulations. Let people live where they can afford and want to live, which appears to be as it is. I lived in Van Nuys for many years until I could afford to live in WeHo. You seem to have some fixation with the concept of diversity. Assuming you live in WeHo and you’re white why don’t you do your part for diversity… Read more »
I think you’re missing my point that I’m against unnecessary regulations. I’m guessing that you’ve been a corporate slave since the Van Nuys years and don’t understand what happens outside of that world.
Ya’ lost me!
This is such an obtuse comment. Do you ever talk to black people or POC? Even if you didn’t, you could google the many racist incidents that have happened here in West Hollywood instead of asking stupid rhetorical questions.
But are we surprised this is coming from the person who profiles people based on their skin color?
What a good little progressive you are! Just keep spewing the same misinformation over an over again until it becomes the accepted narrative. “Rules for Radicals!”
I don’t trust reported incidents of racism any more because they usually turn out to be a hoax, or someone calls an incident racist when, upon examination, it isn’t that at all! There is capital in being a victim of racism and people use it all the time.
yep
“because they usually turn out to be a hoax”
This is factually incorrect. There is data by the FBI and local law agencies to prove it.
How ironic that you spew disinformation without any evidence.
You show me yours
and I’ll show you mine!
Judging people by skin color is the only thing greeneyedguy does.
He does see race in everything, doesn’t he, whether it exists or not.
The City has always endorsed rather crude art while believing themselves to be sophisticated. They know nothing of the evolution of art at any level from naive to masterpieces but are acquainted in commerciality that has no lasting enrichment.
Comments below prove that people will complain about anything.
I get where you’re going with this, but you have to admit that this mural is pretty awful. Yes, I know my feelings are subjective, but most people would admit that it looks sloppy. Look at their Instagram, the work is terrible. The only thing worse would have been something by wrdsmth or whatever that person is called.
Nope, the mural is wonderful. It’s not sloppy and has a powerful meaning behind it.
A beautiful addition to our city landscape.
While I will miss the dancing animals, it is a good thing that the City allows artists to mix it up every once in awhile. We all have differing tastes in art; you would not expect it to be otherwise in West Hollywood. But I hope we can all respect the artist for giving us a positive message of inclusion, hope and blue skies.
it’s sloppy and lowbrow
There’s no accounting for taste and some people haven’t any taste.
The mural subject is literal…. the colors too…. with the trillions of colors available…. all the different shades and hues we are presented with color choices from a children’s paint box. When an artist reduces the tone or hue of a color, the emphasis the artist needs to pay very close attention to the geometry of the design. Hence, stop signs, yield signs, cross walks etc….
Art is a language…and it does speak to the level of “development” and understanding of the artist and viewer.
I hate it. Murals on exterior walls always look like graffiti to me.
Yeah well you hate pretty much everything about this city. So what else is new?
Au contraire mon fere!
(Look it up.)
I love WeHo.
I hate murals on exterior walls anywhere! They look trashy.
Murals don’t dp anything to dress the place up..that’s for sure.
Many people think they do 🙂
Thats the thing, JF1- the world doesn’t revolve around you and your opinions. (THANK GOD)
Look who’s talkin’!
“Pot” to “kettle”!
Jesus! Can we get some mature adults to run this city!
I hate to break it to you Clowns at City Hall, but you have way bigger fish to fry than silly teenage murals when it comes to priorities for a safe, clean, city that is responsive to TAXPAYERS!.
West Hollywood is not some teen social club.
Grow TFU!
good grief
This mural is too cute for me, and not in a good way. It looks like it belongs in a playground. I’m also really bothered by the composition, particularly the way they have awkwardly clustered clouds around the elements in the foreground. Not only that, the way the clouds are painted looks sloppy. The whole thing is awkward and lacks substance, but that’s pretty much what I expect from any mural.
Love this!