At Facing History & Ourselves, an organization that uses the lessons of the past to create a better future by helping middle school and high school teachers navigate student conversations about race, equity, justice, and citizenship, sharing its philosophy is important to keep the communication flowing.

Facing History executive director Mark Swaim-Fox and his staff earlier this year were discussing ways to challenge their students, teachers—and the community—to stand up to bigotry and hate.

They decided to send their message through a mural on the side of the Facing History building on the Urban Community School campus at 2050 W. 47th Street.

So, Swaim-Fox reached out to LAND studio, which offered up a selection of muralists to choose from. Facing History officials chose artist Isaiah Willams, aka Starbeing, who has quickly earned a reputation for the murals he creates around Cleveland.

LAND studio project coordinator Ahlon Gonzalez then facilitated a meeting between Williams and Facing History. She says she knows Williams’ work and thought he’d be a good fit for the project.

Artist Isaiah Williams“I've seen Isaiah's work in terms of the way he uses color and design, and the way that he can really change a space with his work,” Gonzalez says, adding that the project had to be done with spray paint. “Particularly, because this was a residential house that Facing History is housed in, we were a little bit concerned about the vinyl siding, the rippling, and so forth. So we really needed to think about some very experienced muralists who could work with that level of detail. I knew that Isaiah could do that.”

Swaim-Fox says he told Williams they wanted to capture the vision and heart of the work of Facing History, “But we also wanted something bright and beautiful because it is the entrance to the campus,” he explains. “It's essentially one of the first things you see is you come into the campus, so we wanted something that represented the spirit of the campus and the joyfulness of what this really unique campus is trying to do.”

Williams and the mission of Facing History were a perfect match.

“We commissioned Isaiah to capture our mission with an artistic rendering on the north-facing side of our building,” recalls Swaim-Fox. “He did an amazing job. We couldn’t be happier.”

Swaim-Fox adds that he told Williams that the organization’s name reflects the fact that Facing History attempts to motivate people to look at both history and internally to learn. Williams heard what Swaim-Fox was saying. “We have to look within ourselves a lot of the time in order to move forward,” Williams says.

The mural reads “People Make Choices, Choices Make History.” Williams brought in tattoo and graffiti artist Dayz Whun to work on the lettering.

Isaiah Williams working on the Facing History MuralWilliams says he researched Facing History’s mission, as well as assessed the surrounding community vibe to draw his inspiration for the mural, which depicts a face looking outward, and another face looking inward.

“I wanted to use a lot of colors that inspire diversity, kind of like a spectrum of color,” Williams says. “I also wanted to utilize how facing history is about, basically facing history and a lot of the time that could be interpreted as kind of looking within and transcending stereotypes, political norms, and things like that, to face history and overcome certain barriers.”

Williams’ revelations helped him choose his color palette—with shades of blues, purples, reds, and yellows.

“I went with that energy into designing my piece with the colors that I chose,” he explains. “I'm a believer in color theory and color therapy.”

In fact, Williams is big on color use in all of his murals.

“I feel like color is a very important thing—it has a very important purpose in our everyday lives,” he explains. “When you look at something vibrant or warm, you can kind of change your mood. Or if you look at something that's more deep and dark, it really affects you. [Color] brings out certain emotions, and that's why I try and utilize that in my artwork to kind of convey a message”.

The two faces are tied together by a large lotus flower—the anchor to the mural, Williams says.

“That's probably one of the most eye-catching things in the mural, and I've already gotten a lot of compliments on it,” he explains. “The lotus is kind of like a spiritual representation, or symbolic totem, to evolving and opening up to growth—and just basically transcending into a higher version of yourself, spiritually speaking.”

Williams worked on the mural throughout October—much of it in the wind and rain by the end of the project. Braving the weather, using special materials, and working around the details of a residential house proved to be worthwhile.

“We had a campus partners meeting this morning with all the different partners on the campus. And the mural is the talk of the town,” says Swaim-Fox. “They're so happy with it.”