A dimly lit underpass connecting Lake Street and Hiawatha Avenue has been transformed into a vibrant mosaic of color anchored by the Indigenous medicine wheel and the faces of community members.
Minneapolis officials unveiled the 6,200-square-foot Hi-Lake Mural earlier this month, after a multiyear, $370,000 process to reach out to the community and develop a vision for the corridor, public arts administrator Mary Altman said.
The intersection is a key connector between East and West Lake Street, but pedestrians often felt unsafe passing beneath the massive Hiawatha/Hwy. 55 bridge while navigating several lanes of traffic. Crime and homelessness in and around the Hiawatha-Midtown light-rail station spurred a frequent police presence.
“During the community engagement for that project, we heard a lot from the community that they did not feel safe under the bridge,” Altman said. Students from nearby South High and other nearby schools used the underpass to get to and from school, she said. “They were a group in particular that we really wanted to feel more safe.”
A major overhaul of the intersection that wrapped up in January improved traffic flow, rebuilt sidewalks, and added bike lanes, among other changes. The city then installed better lighting and gave a team of artists the green light to begin building the mural this summer.
Minneapolis artist Greta McLain, a graduate of South High, led a team of artists working on the project that included Natchez Beaulieu, Daniela Bianchini, and Pablo Kalaka.
Many of the giant images were painted first on canvas and applied to the walls in a wallpaper technique, McLain said. The mural also incorporates mosaics, wrapping around light fixtures designed by Minnesota artist Seitu Jones.
McClain said each corner features a traditional medicinal plant — white sage, cedar, sweetgrass and sacred tobacco — as part of the four directions of the medicine wheel.
“These are these anchors to really seed or visualize deep, deep healing,” she said, both for the intersection and a community still recovering five years after the murder of George Floyd.
Credit: Dymanh Chhoun | Sahan Journal
