Chicago artist and urban planner Chris Devins recently completed a large mural of Michelle Obama, located just blocks away from the former First Lady’s childhood home.
While it's seemingly a beautiful gesture, many people are calling flag on the play.
In November, Devins set up a GoFundMe account to get the ball rolling on the mural. His original asking price was $9,900, however, he ended up making $11,785. His pitch was a standard picture of Michelle Obama, however, at the unveiling, it's a picture of her as an Egyptian queen.
DNA Chicago ran an article about the Michelle Obama mural, which is located on the corner of Chappel Avenue and 74th Street. In the article, Devins says, “I wanted to present her as what I think she is, so she’s clothed as an Egyptian queen. I thought that was appropriate.”
So what's the problem, right?
Well, apparently, the artwork isn't a Devins' original piece, rather, his particular image of Michelle Obama was created by a black woman named Gelila Lila Mesfin. Mesfin went on to post her feelings on the situation after reading the DNA article.
"How can you just steal someone's artwork… someone's hard work and claim it like it's yours… how can you go on record and say you designed this… this is so disheartening and so disrespectful on so many levels… like this man seriously created a gofundme page, raised money and did this… it's one thing to share or even profit from someone's work but to claim it as yours is just wrong! Thank you to those who DM and messaged me to let me know what was going on @dnainfochi you guys should take this article down because this man stole this. I wouldn't mind if he had given me credit or said he took the design from another artist but saying you designed it is just wrong! The man is a teacher for God's sake and said he was doing this to create positivity for his students and community… but he didn't think that stealing a young girl's artwork and making a profit out of it does more damage than good," the post read.
Mesfin's claims are legit which can be seen by scrolling her Instagram. Her original post of the artwork was in October 2016.
After numerous of people came to Mesfin’s defense on Twitter, Devins finally responded with Tweets that are now deleted. He admitted he was “inspired” by Mesfin’s work and then kind of gave her credit.
Our non profit urban planning projects often include paintings inspired by found images Thank you east african girl.
— Chris Devins (@LeagueOfExtra) April 22, 2017
Thank you Gelila Lila Mesfin As placemakers,we are were truly inspired,…
— Chris Devins (@LeagueOfExtra) April 22, 2017
The question at hand now in regards to the mural is where do we go from here?
