Truth Pharm’s new mural was unveiled earlier this month. The Mural Unveiling and Open House event was held at Truth Pharm’s office at 49 Pine Street with live speakers, performers, Narcan training, and food, to welcome community members into our space and to celebrate the completion of the mural.
Truth Pharm staff and volunteers have always loved the idea of painting a mural on their building. With the building’s exterior previously being unrecognizable; it was hard for people to find our office. When a grant opportunity from Ithaca Murals and Smart Energy Choices arose, this vision became a reality!
Madelyn Robinson, the Events Liaison at Truth Pharm, has helped a lot with the painting process of the mural. Madelyn has been with Truth Pharm for a year, and is currently a sophomore at SUNY Geneseo. Madelyn, a suicide-overdose loss survivor, was drawn into the harm reduction and advocacy field by her family history and dedication to saving lives. Madelyn said, “I really connect with the people here. Everyone here has been impacted in one way or another.”
Although she’s never painted a mural before, she enjoyed being a part of the project. Madelyn says, “I love the mural. I’ve never done anything like that before. It’s really rewarding to see the process unfolding right in front of you, and to see how everyone’s contributions come together. It’s a satisfying feeling.”
This mural was one of 16 mural projects funded by Smart Energy Choices and Ithaca Murals in the Southern Tier of New York. The projects funded by the Thriving Futures Mural Initiative all revolved around the theme, “Building a future where all people and living environments thrive,” and half of the awards were designated to first time muralists like Mia Hause.
The three figures in the mural represent strategies to build a more just future. These include healthy and sustainable living, watering your community and building it up from the ground, multi-generational support and collaboration, and activism, which is near and dear to us at Truth Pharm. The mural’s plants and insects are all native to this region, including asters and purple cornflowers, which represents living in harmony with our natural environment as well as the idea of growth, resilience, and planting seeds of change.
Mia Hause joined Truth Pharm in 2022 in the role of Community Arts Liaison, working to further incorporate the arts into Truth Pharm’s work, and use art as a tool to make Truth Pharm’s work more accessible to the community. She served as the lead artist for this mural project. Mia said, “As the project went on, it became all about community for me. We had a total of 24 community members involved in painting the mural throughout the month of May, and I’m so proud that so many hands are embedded in the project. The mural is truly by and for our community.”
In her personal practice, Mia Hause creates paintings that incorporate images of domesticity, ecology, and femininity in the form of still life and portraiture. Her work is informed by her own experiences in a family impacted by the opioid epidemic, and the experiences of mothers involved in advocacy and movement building around substance use related deaths.
If you missed the mural unveiling, come down to 49 Pine Street, in Binghamton, to see the mural and say hello! To stay up to date on Truth Pharm’s work, visit www.truthpharm.org and find us on social media.