A depiction of a Civil Rights Era bus in black-and-white symbolizes the tribe's fight for desegregated schools and a painting of a guitar made from a turpentine can is based on a real artifact made by a tribal elder currently on display at the PCI museum.
Throughout the piece, the tribe's colors – green, red and yellow – appear alongside flora and fauna native to the area, including corn, Yaupon Holly, cows and a woodpecker taking flight.
DesChene and her students completed the massive mural by sectioning it out into several panels that occupied every wall in Biggin Hall's third floor. Students with less experience painting started with patterns and shapes, gaining confidence and skill as they worked through the semester to move on to more complex work.
Recent painting graduate Kayti Reaves helped facilitate the effort as a student worker. She said the project helped students learn how to work together, accept creative feedback and hone technical skills while creating a piece that matters so much to the community.
“There’s a ton of people in here who have never painted before, and it’s a great opportunity to learn, and with this one, our professor made the design with the community,†Reaves said. “Painting is a labor of love because you’re putting a lot of time and dedication into something and into representing it. We want the people that we’re giving it to to feel represented and that we cared and put our whole effort into it.â€
In May, the mural was installed outside the Poarch Creek Indians' new administrative building in Atmore. The mural's located close to the PCI Museum and Welcome Center, which is free and open to the public. The museum invites people to experience the tribe's history firsthand through exhibits on how early Creek Indians lived, traditional Creek art and original copies of the Petition for Federal Recognition from 1980.
The mural's placement ensures that anyone living in or visiting the ancestral land will be welcomed with a visual celebration of the tribe's rich history and culture.
The mural project was supported by grant funding through Auburn University Outreach and in partnership with the Caroline Marshall Draughon Center for the Arts & Humanities in the College of Liberal Arts.
