Citified

Artist BK "IAMART" Adams relaxes in his former studio in historic Anacostia. Children playing near his studio nicknamed him the "Art Man," and he has taken that designation to heart. In many ways, Adams is the city’s premier ambassador of art for the people. In his public persona, garbed in paint-daubed clothes, he is a walking advertisement for his art and his approach to life.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Frederick Douglass, Anacostia’s most famous resident, anchors this mural on Good Hope Road SE. Douglass was an orator, writer, abolitionist, and social reformer, who championed African American rights.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Public art beautifies even ordinary things around us. This mural on a trash can on Minnesota Avenue transforms our streets.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Albus Cavus public art projects encourage participants to create different kinds of art. While a mural is in progress in this open city space, a young artist sketches in his notebook. All this creative activity attracts families, friends, and community members, who also become part of the project. Eventually there will be music, games, picnics, and more.

Photo courtesy of Albus Cavus

In this public art series, Steven Cummings shares his creative vision through photography, often using some of the whimsical historical artifacts and clothing that he has collected. In his work, Cummings explores the power of representation and how images shape our ideas of who we are.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Participants in the Anacostia Community Museum's Museum Academy celebrate the installation of the murals they created at the Anacostia Neighborhood Library in March 2011.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

At Charles Drew Elementary School, a student paints on canvas in the arts education program, “Life Pieces to Masterpieces.” This after-school and weekend program focuses on young African American boys in Washington’s Far Southeast communities.

Photo by Susana Raab, courtesy of Anacostia Community Museum

Public art is more than neighborhood beautification. It creates a community "commons" where people can gather; it becomes a means through which residents identify with their neighborhoods; and it often becomes a beloved and identifiable local landmark.

Today, wall murals, public sculpture and statuary, water fountains and water displays, landscapes, found objects, video, and even performance art are among the diverse media used in public art installations. Community participation in the creation of such work is often a hallmark of a successful project. In addition, there are also artists who create work that is not formally sanctioned. Identified by the label "street art," their work includes graffiti and wheat-pasting— posting photographs, posters, and other imagery in public places—in what is often labeled "street art." Their projects often provoke debate about what people consider to be art.

Citified: Arts and Creativity East of the Anacostia River is produced in collaboration with the Anacostia Community Museum.