A new Chapel Hill Transit art bus highlights the struggle for racial justice and celebrates young community members who rise above racism.

The “Rise Above Racial Injustices” bus is a collaboration between community arts partners, local artist and art educator Debi Drew, and members of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP Youth Council.

The three youth council participants selected for the project were Kennedy Lytle, Sol Ramirez, and Anthony Swann. These students received a stipend for the time and contribution to the project.

Drew was picked for the project because of her artistic expertise and experience working with youth.

“Debi Drew is an accomplished artist, experienced in engaging youth to creatively express themselves through the visual arts,” Anna Richards, former president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP said in a release. “Given the conversations about race during the last year, the bus project is an opportunity to hear from youth social justice activists.”

During planning and design, Drew led several in-person workshops on topics ranging from self-concept, racism and social change.

“These sessions provided the materials I needed to produce the bus wrap that speaks of their racial injustice concerns,” Drew said in a release, “My goal was to provide a comfortable space for them to be heard and be motivated to create visual art productions inspired by our discussions in these sessions.”

The resulting design includes the words “Rise Above Racial Injustices” across each side of the bus. Additionally, the design features three portraits of masked local teens and their motivations for fighting against racism.

Quotes included with the portraits are:

“My self worth negates racist remarks,” by Kennedy Lytle

“Rise above hate,” by Sol Ramirez

“Show empathy for others,” by Anthony Swann

This project was funded through Chapel Hill Transit, Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture, the Chapel Hill-Carrboro NAACP, the Orange County Arts Commission and the North Carolina Arts Council.

Another art bus is also in operation. The “Orgullo Latino/LatinX Pride” bus was designed by Georges Le Chevallier and debuted in August 2020.

Chapel Hill Transit art buses are part of a larger Town of Chapel Hill Art + Transit project. In addition to the buses, Triangle-based artists are commissioned to create artistic bus shelters.

To learn more about the Art + Transit program, click here.

 

Featured photo via Chapel Hill Community Arts & Culture

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