Three Kings of Anacostia (2024)

Title

Three Kings of Anacostia (2024)

Location

Formerly DISTAD'S TIRE & AUTO (now Murphy’s Auto Service) 2320 Martin Luther King Jr Ave., Washington, DC 20020

Artist

Jay Coleman 

Visual description

Three heroes of the Civil Rights struggle are depicted in large format: Marion Barry (“Mayor for Life”) in the center, flanked by Dr Martin Luther King Jr on the left and Malcolm X on the right.  The faces are above the garage bays for Alignment, Brakes, Shocks, and Wheel  Balance, which is rather playful.  Dr. King and Malcolm X are rendered in black and white, while Marion Barry’s face is multicolored. The heads also honor three local streets: MLK Ave, on which the garage sits, and nearby Marion Barry and Malcolm X Avenues, and is near to Mayor Barry’s residence. A multicolored abstract landscape and skyscape is visible in the background, perhaps suggestive of the flows of time and energy that link the three heroic figures.

Artist’s Statement

The background swirls represent the influence that both Dr King and Malcolm X had on Marion Barry.  Barry would not have been in DC had it not been for Dr King. In turn, many of Barry’s later ideologies aligned with Malcolm. Further, the Million Man March would not have happened without Marion Barry. A young Barry was depicted just to spark inquiry by those who are only familiar with older photos of him and his scandal, as opposed to his long legacy-building career in activism”

Artists website

http://jayfcoleman.com

Artist’s statement video

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DEnjwhpB9xr/?hl=en

The background swirls represent the influence that both Dr King and Malcolm X had on Marion Barry.  Barry would not have been in DC had it not been for Dr King. In turn, many of Barry’s later ideologies aligned with Malcolm. Further, the Million Man March would not have happened without Marion Barry. A young Barry was depicted just to spark inquiry by those who are only familiar with older photos of him and his scandal, as opposed to his long legacy-building career in activism

Interpretive Notes

This rather playful, large-format mural does seem to tap into the kinetic energies associated with automotive culture and with auto service garages, important sites of community gathering and economic empowerment.  There may be a clever play of words going on, with the heads towering over the phrases that mark each garage service bay; alignment, brakes, shocks, wheel balance.

Prompts for Closer Looking

1. What do you think Dr. King might be pointing at here? Is he calling out a challenge to all of us who pass by? What are the struggles that we should be pursuing right now, at this moment in our history?

2. Why has the mural team chosen to represent Dr. King and Malcolm X in black and white and Mayor Barry in color? Is there a sense that the legacies of these two historical figures, both assassinated, converge in the courage, energy, and pragmatism of Marion Barry? 

3. Jay Coleman speaks of an “Afro-Futurist” feel to the mural; do you sense that? Does the multicolored landscape in the background suggest time travel, or maybe the magical fantasy elements of Wakanda – enlivening life right here in Anacostia?

4. The title “Three Kings” may be reminiscent of the Three Kings who came bearing gifts in the New Testament to honor the birth of Jesus. What gifts did these three individual heroes of the civil rights struggle bring?