Live Small. Love Big. La Plata.
Live Small. Love Big. La Plata. is a mural that was commissioned by the Town of La Plata and Keep La Plata Beautiful. It was funded by the Charles County Arts Alliance and the Charles Restaurant. This mural replaced a community mural that started as a fundraiser for Hospice. The old mural was created with the intention to last for two years, but due to inactivity and a change in ownership of the building that it lived on, its life was extended to a little over seven years. No regulation or upkeep meant that the previous mural was fading and chipping away due to a lack of UV protection and inconsistent maintenance. The town’s request for proposals stipulated that a new mural should depict the spirit of La Plata, a small and beautiful historical town in Charles County, Maryland, and honor the mural that was there before it.
Due to the sentimental nature of the previous mural, and the fact that families used it to honor loved and lost ones, I wanted the spirit of my mural to encapsulate love and togetherness; optimism and remembrance; honoring the past while setting a hopeful tone for the future.
I took a patchwork approach, similar to the previous mural, and, in collaboration with my wife, came up with copy that embodied the spirit of the mural. Historical references include nods to the La Plata Train Station Museum, La Plata Town Hall, Landon’s Ice Cream (a black-owned and operated ice cream shop two doors down from the mural), and a star that commemorates the La Plata water tower that was demolished when a tornado ripped through the town in 2002, killing five people.
Elsewhere on the mural you will find symbols of living small (a bicycle, a dog), a white hand holding an olive branch, extending it to a black hand, symbolizing racial unity and the power of being a good neighbor. Lastly, there are pink carnations to honor loved ones lost.
Photos by Lambert Cameraworks
