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Sometimes Water Keeps Us Grounded
Sydney James’ “Sometimes Water Keeps Us Grounded” mural was painted as a part of the Chroma Zone art festival in the Creative Enterprise Zone district of Saint Paul, MN. Painted on a plain white wall, the mural depicts a detailed portrait of a young Dakota girl wearing a red shirt decorated with cartoon-like characters. She is only seen from mid-torso and up, showing mostly her head, neck, and shoulders. The characters on her shirt are a teal color and have a pinkish-coral hair color. The character on the left appears to be a woman holding and looking at a baby, presumably her own child. The other character on the girl’s shirt is a woman wearing purple robes; her hair is a lighter shade of pink than the woman on the left. She has horns on her head, as well as a halo hovering behind her head and wings on her back. The horns, halo, and wings are all painted in yellow, complementing other features of the t-shirt design. The angel is holding out her hand to show a small boy holding a star. Beneath the angel’s hand, “Hey Momma” is painted in white with a heart as well as a dedication, “Sydney’s Homage to Birdcap XOXO.” Birdcap is another street artist whom James wanted to honor in her mural. Behind the girl is her shadow painted in various colors. The horizontal lines of colors include shades of purple, blue, pink, green, magenta, and red. The girl’s shadow is given texture through dots of different colors and shades, as well as lines that give the appearance of stacked squares. -
Coming Home
Scale: The size of the mural is very large, taking up the entire side of a building wall. To be able to capture the full essence of the mural as a whole, the viewer must stand far away. Standing up close provides the opportunity to see the intricate details that Al-Mansour has placed within her mural, whether it is within the background, the two large figures, or the objects.
Composition/Pictorial Space/Pattern: Al-Mansour divides the mural into two equal halves, each presenting an interior space with a single woman in the foreground. This bilateral structure creates a stable and balanced composition, with the two figures positioned toward the center facing each other while looking at one another through a gold-colored telescope. The woman on the left is standing in the foreground of a room with the wall and floor covered in purple squares and triangles. Additionally on the walls are two images of the Statue of Liberty’s head. There is also a window on the wall of the building itself, which Al-Mansour turned into a window of the left woman’s room with curtains. Positioned in the center of the room, there is a blue couch and chair with a yellow pillow, and a brown wooden coffee table with a book on top. The woman herself has shoulder-length blonde, wavy hair and is wearing a deep purple/magenta dress with black shoes while holding purple glasses. The woman on the right is standing mid-step in the foreground of a blue room with the wall and floor covered in a ten-star Islamic pattern. The wall also has an Arabic word written inside two of the stars, as well as a flock of birds flying to the left. The woman has dark, curly hair with a yellow hijab, and is wearing a yellow dress and brown sandals while holding a brown briefcase.
Al-Mansour placed both women in the foreground, toward the middle of the mural, making them a primary focus. Both women appear to be 3D, with shadows on the floor of the rooms, as well as highlights and shadowing on their clothes and bodies to give them greater dimensionality. The furnishings and patterns recede toward the back of each room, with a horizon line separating the wall from the floor to create spatial logic. The couch, chair, and coffee table in the purple room are all drawn smaller to give the perspective of them being behind the woman. The birds on the blue wall are drawn in different sizes, showing that some birds are closer to the viewer and some are farther away. All of this places the viewer at the forefront of this space, closer to the women who are at the front of the room.
Form: The women are drawn with attention to volume, using highlights and shadows to give them a more natural look. These natural, curvilinear forms of the women contrast with the rectilinear shapes of the background patterns and room edges.
Line: Contour lines define the edges of the figures, clothing, furniture, and architectural elements, which clearly distinguish from different parts of the mural. The geometric patterns rely on strong straight lines to establish structure in the walls and floors. Curved lines appear in the women’s hair, the folds of their dresses, the arc of the telescope, the cushions, and the curtains.
Color/Light/Tone: The left room uses shades of purple for the floor and walls, with a blue couch and chair and yellow pillow and curtains. The woman herself is also wearing a deeper magenta dress holding magenta glasses that appear to fade into her dress, but with brown shoes. The other room uses shades of blue, with some light purple showing up the closer it gets to the purple room. The birds are drawn in dark blues and purples to contrast the blue wall, or sky. They are also painted solidly, giving the illusion of shadows of birds flying in the distance, with not as much depth as the figures or furnishings. The yellow dress and hijab of the right woman contrasts the blue of the background, making her stand out more than even the left woman. The two dress colors are complementary, while the background colors are analogous colors. The way that the shadows on the women are depicted shows that the light source appears to be in between them. The telescope is painted in gold, also with shadowing and highlights to give it depth. The tonal shifts on the floor, clothes, and furnishings also enhance the illusion of form and depth.
Texture: Al-Mansour appears to use shading, with highlights and shadows, to create texture throughout the mural. Each woman’s hair and dress, as well as the furnishings, display texture. The left woman’s blonde hair looks straight with a few waves, and her dress is looser around her body and looks to be stationary. On the other side, the right woman’s dark hair shows lots of curls with her hair and hijab flowing in the wind, and her dress is tighter around the waist with some vertical ruffles that also looks to be flowing in the wind. Texture is also seen in the furnishings on the left side. The curtains framing the window are painted in such a way that suggested gathered fabric. The couch and chair cushions, as well as the pillows, were painted to look cushiony.