Famed muralist Willis “Nomo” Humphrey has died in Philadelphia, the city in which he lived and worked.
The artist died at 44 on Wednesday due to a heart attack, The Philadelphia Inquirer reports. He left behind his partner, Valerie Caesar, and three teenage children.
Originally from Biloxi, Mississippi, the artist trained at The Art Institute in Atlanta before coming to notoriety for painting murals of prominent Black heroes across Philadelphia.
In addition to creating large-scale works of legends like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., Humphrey also immortalized contemporary figures like Kevin Hart and painted pieces exploring the impact of Black Americans on the country's history. Many of these works featured a unique layering technique in which historical text, documents and iconography became his subjects' skin.
Humphrey was also passionate about improving the community through work with the incarcerated. In an interview with Mural Arts, the artist detailed how important he found his work with prisoners to be.
“I’ve been working with the Philadelphia Prison System through the Restorative Justice Program,” he said. “It’s been a motivating experience, working with those guys, to get to know them. People have preconceived notions of how certain populations are. All of us do. But once you really get to work with and know them, they’re really solid guys.”
Through his Amber Art and Design, an organization he co-founded, Humphrey worked to use art to empower marginalized communities. Ernel Martinez, one of Amber Arts' co-founders, described him as a warm person with a slew of talent.
"Willis carried himself with a tremendous amount of pride as a Black man and a Black father, and that was reflected in how he conducted himself," Martinez said. "I think what makes someone a good public artist is a willingness to listen, but also a willingness to be humble. He did all that, but he had all this talent."
There will be a memorial held for Willis on Tuesday following a service at Mother Bethel A.M.E. Church. Humphrey's colleagues have set up a GoFundMe page to help with the families' expenses.
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