Old Hayti Community Mural

Mural depicting the Old Hayti Community, painted on the side of an old Winn Dixie grocery store in downtown Durham, NC. A brief photo storyline about the man who I plan to photograph in front of this mural, and his reaction to receiving a mounted print of it, can be seen here. The artist, Emily Eve Weinstein, recruited the help of 200 local school kids to help paint the mural. She solicited ideas from local community members as to what should and should not be included in the mural. Emily has shared some fun stories about the project and I hope to soon include some of her photos taken during the mural's creation. Unfortunately, the mural's future is questionable. The property where the mural is located will likely be developed in the not so distant future. I'll be in touch with the property owner as soon as I can make contact and will update this gallery with new information as it becomes available. Emily's website. More info on the historic Hayti community and a nice interview with the artist here.

The mural spans 28x177 feet along almost the entire wall facing East Lakewood Ave. in the Heritage Square Shopping Center.

This section of the mural depicts local blues man John Dee Holeman sitting on his front porch, playing with some friends. This is the section I was asked to photograph John Dee in front of. John is very proud of the mural according to good friend Russ Comer, who asked me to take on this project.

This is John Dee Holeman sitting on his front porch playing and singing some blues. John still lives just up the road from the mural.

Some of the mural has started to peel away from the wall. Visible here in the flowers surrounding the front porch.

Closeup of John and friends passing the time.

No Parking - Fire Lane sign faded to the point where it's only purpose is to hide the bare wall behind. More peeling paint. The colors of the mural are still quite nice. "The Old Hayti Community..." still visible, but not obvious from more than ten feet away.

(illegible)"Youth Mural Project was made possible in part by Winn Dixie Stores, Inc."

The sidewalk in front of the mural is also covered with interesting yet faded artwork.

This is Oscar. He was waiting for a bus when I pulled into the parking lot. By the time I had snapped a few photos, he was on his way to see me and "get in the paper." Oscar is homeless and originally from Bluefield, West Virginia. I am also from West Virginia, and Oscar actually knew where my little home town is located, we bonded. I asked Oscar if he would pose for me real quick, before his bus came.

I asked Oscar to tell me about the mural behind him. He had earlier told me he knew all about it and he even knew personally some of the people depicted in it. Oscar was pulling my leg.

Oscar kept asking me what I wanted to know about the mural. I kept telling him to tell me anything he knew about it, anything at all. Oscar kept telling me it's huge.

Convinced that Oscar didn't know as much about the mural as he lead me to believe, I informed him that I knew who one of the musicians sitting on the porch was. Oscar sighed and gave up trying to educate me.

Oscar's attention is distracted momentarily by two females walking our way.

Oscar moves closer and suddenly starts vocalizing Hank Williams Jr. lyrics. He claims he's singing, and he also claims that "A country boy can survive" is a Merl Haggard song. I didn't argue with him.

"for 43 dollars, my friend lost his life....A country boy can survive"

I noticed the ink pen in his shirt collar right away but somehow I forgot to ask him for an autograph. However, I did promise to bring him some prints and I gave hive 10 bucks for entertaining me. Maybe I'll get that autograph when I take him some prints.

This is one of the females that was distracting Oscar. By this point Oscar had almost convinced himself that he had convinced them that I worked for him and that WE were shooting pictures for a fashion magazine. (I know, it's a run-on sentence. That's how Oscar thinks.)

I'm not so sure that she believed Oscar. She did however have a pleasant, if somewhat hesitant, smile for the camera.

Her friend on the other hand didn't want anything to do with the whole idea.

The mural will likely be torn down in the future, as the property has been sold and will be developed. If you're in the Durham, NC area, I recommend you stop by and have a look in person. The shopping center is right beside the Durham Freeway at the intersection of Fayetteville Street and East Lakewood Ave. It's a shame the mural can't be seen from the freeway.