Walls of Demand: Father of Slain Student Uses Art to Turn Tragedy Into Change

I’m sure we all remember the day. It was Valentine’s Day, just this past February. A former student walked into Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Dade County, Florida, with an assault rifle and killed 17 innocent people — including 14 students.

The whole of America watched as law enforcement searched for the shooter, who was still at large after leaving the Stoneman Douglas campus. We watched as panicked students were evacuated to a nearby hotel to be reunited with parents overcome with the worst kind of angst imaginable. We watched knowing that some number of innocent people would not come out alive. Sadness and anger were the order of the day.

Credit: Hyperallergic.com

But this piece is not about school shootings. We all know there’s a huge problem with gun violence in America, and we all know that school shootings are the worst expression of our culture’s problem with guns. This isn’t about gun control, either.

This is about turning tragedy into change. Specifically, it’s about how a chain of events that began with the Stoneman Douglas shooting led to worldwide recognition of the power of one man’s grief and anger. This is about the power of art as an engine for social awareness.

Our story begins in the wake of the shootings, when NBA star Dwayne Wade, beloved in Miami, learned that one student slain in the shooting would be buried in Wade’s No.3 Miami Heat Jersey. That student was Joaquin Oliver, a huge fan of Dwayne Wade who had just been granted U.S. citizenship. Wade was moved and promised the survivors of Stoneman Douglas he would not let their calls for action go unheard.

Walls of Demand: A Father’s Labor of Love, Grief, and Anger
In less than a month, Wade sponsored an exhibit at Miami’s Wynwood Art Walk called “Parkland 17.” The exhibit was a 17-hour showing of installations dedicated to the memory of the 17 slain at Parkland, and featured a mural by local street artist Manuel Oliver — Joaquin Oliver’s father.

The exhibit drew massive media attention, and after a second installation in New York, Manuel Oliver took his murals on the road — boldly and undeniably calling for action to end gun violence in schools and in general. Below is a video of the first mural as it’s being painted. Turn the sound up and listen to the energy and intensity of this man’s feeling.

Entitled “Walls of Demand,” Oliver’s installations have become gathering places for activists demanding sensible gun laws, and his message has been embraced largely because he presents his work not merely as his art, but primarily as an extension of his son’s activism. In a recent interview with SouthFlorida.com, Oliver has this to say about his murals: “I can be sad or I can fight. People think it helps me to paint these murals. It doesn’t help me at all. The main point behind the walls is to give a voice to Joaquin. This is not me being an artist. This is Joaquin being an activist.”

So far, Oliver’s murals have gone up in 10 locations, including politically sensitive locations like the NRA Headquarters in Fairfax, Virginia. Oliver says he has plans for more murals as mid-term elections heat up.