The District is about to get more than half-a-dozen new murals within the next couple of months. One of them is already up: a brightly-colored piece that pays tribute to DC’s homegrown music—go-go. Local artist Kaliq Crosby, who also painted the Amanda Gorman mural in Dupont Circle, was commissioned by MuralsDC to paint the artwork in honor of the historical and cultural impact that go-go music has had on the city. Finished today, it decorates the wall directly across from Metro PCS, the store in Shaw where the #Don’tMuteDC cultural movement started in 2019 when the store was forced to turn off its go-go music.
The mural depicts an African-American boy using a trashcan as a drum. A colorful background painted in yellow, blue, purple, and orange, also features the words “GO-GO CITY” underneath three stars that symbolize the DC flag.
On either side of the mural, two complementary pieces will eventually be painted by Crosby and longtime MuralsDC artist Aniekan Udofia, who is best known for his mural tribute to Duke Ellington in DC’s West End.
Six other murals will also be unveiled across Wards 1, 2, 5, and 6. The pieces will honor LGBTQ+ representation, women in science, and cultural images unique to the District.
While the other murals won’t be finished for a while, muralists Daniel Barojas recently completed a mural that’s a tribute to the Nacotchtank tribe, who once lived on the land that is now DC. The piece, near the Navy Yard in Southeast DC, depicts a Nacotchtank person, made up of different skin tones, surrounded by the “four sacred colors to Native Americans” and looking into the Earth as if it is a crystal ball. “[The mural] symbolizes that we’re all natives of planet Earth and that we should all take care of our mother [Earth],” Barojas says.
Before becoming Research Editor, Damare Baker was an Editorial Fellow and Assistant Editor for Washingtonian. She has previously written for Voice of America and The Hill. She is a graduate of Georgetown University, where she studied international relations, Korean, and journalism.
