“Liberation is a World We Weave” (2026)

Location: 1640 Columbia Rd. NW, Festival Center back wall

Created in conversation with organizers, residents, and cultural workers of Adams Morgan and Ward 1, “Liberation is a World We Weave” highlights communities and movements that have blossomed in the neighborhood across generations. Explore this page to learn more about the many movements, frontline communities, and stories of people power represented in the mural.

Featured movements and figures from history include Nkenge Touré, a former Black Panther Party and a leading figure in the DC Reproductive Justice movement; Colin “Topper” Carew, founder of The New Thing Art and Architecture Center which became a community staple and hub for youth empowerment; 1970’s tenant organizing against gentrification. The mural also celebrates contemporary liberatory organizing—ranging from mutual aid and immigrant defense to anti-war, anti-genocide, and international solidarity work—symbolized by beloved DC organizers Arely Andrade, Maha Hilal, Luci Murphy, Antonia, Ana Rondon, Afeni Evans, Felix M. In the background are references to the Malcolm X Drum Circle, the neighborhood fight to save Adam’s Morgan Plaza, Ward 1 street vendors, All Souls Church, and Cesar Maxit’s iconic cloudy car.

This project was supported by the DC Commission on Arts & Humanities Public Art Building Communities Program.