Samuel Center Left and Zachary Center Right

Zachary Ranieri and Samuel Chertock worked with the Syracuse Public Art Commission, a group which seeks to contribute to the public art on display in Syracuse.

Samuel explained that “the mural consists of a heavily-pixelated image of the Erie Canal, upon which we adhered and spraypainted QR codes (which link to Syracuse-area art institutions and community service organizations).” And Zachary described the effect of this project in this way:

“The project helped me to further understand art as a tool which can bring communities together. People would frequently stop by and ask what we were working on, and share their thoughts about Syracuse in our conversations. The excitement people expressed was not something I expected, and it helped me to realize how art can be a powerful catalyst for exploring our culture and folk tradition. Public art can spark conversations, reveal knowledge, and bring out a community’s values; it is much more than an aesthetic contribution to the city. People talked about how Syracuse has fallen on hard times, of their hopes for its future, and how they missed the past, knowledge shared much more freely due to the mural. I learned from the experience, and I like to think that many more will learn things as a result of this mural’s completion.”