Two rainbow murals were installed in Crystal City last week, just in time for Pride Month.
Placed along 23rd Street S., one roadway mural runs along the interior perimeter of the intersection with S. Fern Street. The other borders the crosswalk at S. Eads Street.
“This is not only just to show that we have the back and we support our community,” county board Vice-Chair Takis Karantonis told ARLnow, “but it’s also to reflect how far we have come as a local society here.”
They are the first such installations in Arlington, created as a show of support for the local LGBTQ+ community, according to National Landing BID president and executive director Tracy Sayegh Gabriel.
“I think we have been working hard in Arlington and in National Landing to build and support an inclusive culture, and I think public expressions of that are really important,” Sayegh Gabriel said. “We see art and beautification as a way to speak to our collective values.”
The effort was part of a years-long processes, according to Sayegh Gabriel, noting that the BID and Freddie Lutz, of longtime local gay bar Freddie’s Beach Bar, were key advocates for the installation.
Over the past few months, local nonprofit Equality Arlington worked with the BID and local officials to get the project over the finish line. There was widespread support in county government for the project, but that’s not to say there were not hiccups along the way.
One of the biggest hurdles was navigating local and federal crosswalk regulations, which ultimately constricted the flexibility of the project, according to Karantonis.
“We said, okay, let’s find ways to do something that’s similar but equally impactful,” Karantonis said. “And together with the BID, we found a way to… have these bookend treatments, and, we get the same visibility effect out of that.”
The groups worked swiftly to ensure the art would be installed during Pride Month, with the vinyl murals ultimately being laid on Wednesday and Thursday of last week.
The murals are expected to last through the summer depending on how the material holds up, but both Karantonis and Sayegh Gabriel are working to identify a more permanent installation.
“We are not in the business of doing this as a temporary thing — this is not a decoration,” Karantonis said. “This is an essential design element for a street that has a very specific history in Arlington.”
