Editor’s note: Some quotes in this story were translated from Spanish into English.
The wall in Peoples Park is painted white. Sketches depict football helmets, stadium crowds and Fernando Mendoza. The words "BLACK LIVES MATTER” and the previous mural with bubble letters spelling out “Bloomington” are gone.
The wall facing the park has undergone several changes over the years. Now, it’ll become an Indiana football themed painting commissioned by Josh Alley who now owns the building next to the park.
The mural will be finished within the next two weeks depending on the weather, painter Jonatan Espinoza said.
The finished mural will include images of Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti, mascot Hoosier the Bison and former players quarterback Fernando Mendoza and wide receiver Elijah Sarratt. Alley chose the theme to celebrate IU’s first national championship win and his love for IU football, Espinoza said.
The previous “You Belong Here” mural was painted by local artist Eva Allen in 2017 through a commission from the Bloomington Arts Commission ahead of Bloomington’s bicentennial.
The mural, designed after the style of a postcard, featured “Bloomington” in block letters filled with local symbols, including the Monroe County Courthouse, pride flags, instruments and Sample Gates. The full mural read “Welcome to Bloomington You belong here!”
“Painting the Welcome to Bloomington, You Belong Here mural was a dream come true for me,” Allen wrote in an Instagram message to the Indiana Daily Student. “I poured my heart and soul into creating a bright and fun postcard style piece of art which included historical references as well as expressing togetherness and inclusion."
Three years later, on Juneteenth 2020, the words “Black Lives Matter” were painted over the mural in pastel pink, with the words “DEFUND BPD” in black spray paint on the side. While the “DEFUND BPD” paint was removed, the “Black Lives Matter” text remained. The city, artist and property owners never decided to replace it, according to an April 20 City of Bloomington press release..
A few hours after Allen’s mural was painted over with “Black Lives Matter” in 2020, she posted on Facebook. She was saddened that the mural was harmed but recognized the significance of the Black Lives Matter movement.
“Friends, don’t let this incident make you more exclusive/treat POC (People of color) differently, or have disdain for the BLM movement. I will not,” Allen wrote in the post. “Instead, let’s continue moving toward reconciliation, equality, and empowerment. Because hate loses but love wins.”
Allen told the IDS she is glad to see a new piece of public art going up this year and wrote that she appreciated the “thought, time and talent” that will go into the piece.
Cream and Crimson Management LLC, new building owner Alley’s company, did not respond to a request for comment.
The City of Bloomington wrote in the April 20 press release that the wall facing Peoples Park, though often thought to be associated with the park, is private property and the owner has the right to do what they want to the mural.
Still, when Espinoza began to strip the mural off the wall, the reaction was instant.
Espinoza said several people have come up to him, often angrily, and asked why the mural was being replaced. Many also mentioned the history of the park as the former location of the Bloomington’s Black Market.
The Black Market was founded by civil rights activist and IU student Clarence “Rollo” Turner in 1968 as a celebration of Black culture, selling Black clothing, art and music.
Earlier that year, Turner helped lead 50 students in a sit-in at the Little 500 race to protest discriminatory bylaws in the charters of IU fraternities by sitting on the track. The protest was ultimately successful, with almost all fraternities accepting the demands.
Three months after the Black Market opened, a local man with Ku Klux Klan ties firebombed and destroyed the store. The business never reopened, and the land was donated to the city, where it officially dedicated it as a park in 1980.
“I know that it’s something delicate, it's something that can easily offend people,” Espinoza said. “Not because they’re replacing a word that was already there; for some people, simply erasing it could be seen as racism.”
Espinoza said he hopes to create a mural that the Bloomington community will enjoy. During the brainstorming process, he proposed a mural including images of limestone cutting, the Lotus World Music and Arts Festival and the Little 500 race. Alley preferred the first one.
Espinoza trained as an architect and enjoys incorporating geometric themes in his work. He started pursuing art full time after getting bored of his career. His first mural was in Pharaoh’s Casino in Nicaragua. He’s currently based in Bloomington and works with the International Art Project. More of his work can be found on his Instagram account.
Espinoza’s wife Aracely Sevilla and Bloomington artist Travis Simpson are also helping paint the mural.
Espinoza will continue to fill out the outline of the mural using a system of grids before adding shading and finer details. He said part of mural painting is change.
“One day this mural is also going to disappear, and they’re going to erase it,” Espinoza said.
