Photo Credit: Raymesh Cintron - Just kids

Fort Smith, Arkansas

400-498 Wheeler Ave, Forth Smith, Arkansas

Video by: Dave Outdoors

The Fort Smith silo mural was painted in September 2016 as part of the second edition of The Unexpected arts festival organized by 64.6 Downtown and curated by Charlotte Dutoit of Justkids.

The mural is located at the fully operational O.K. Foods Grain Terminal.

The artwork explores themes around the American Hero, National myth and it’s context in modern American communities.

Featuring three local residents symbolic of the traditional frontier characters, the triptych piece titled, American Heroes includes Kristina a young business owner in town Ed, a Navajo man who is an active member of the Lawbreakers & Peacemakers re-enactment group, and Gene Beckham a WWII Veteran and recent lifelong employee who retired in 2016 from the OK Foods, Inc.

These three people who are depicted on a monumental scale suggest the heroes and heroines of a modern story, forming larger-than-life personalities that speak to the character of its inhabitants.

Photo credit: Raymesh Cintron of Just Kids