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Creating a Healthy Community

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David Fichter's mural, Creating a Healthy Community was painted on the outside of a neighborhood health clinic in the South Central neighborhood of Los Angeles. The mural was a response to shrinking medical resources in the area due to the federal government's decrease in funding for vital social services, such as healthcare. The representation of fruits and vegetables in the center of the mural suggests a call for good nutrition as obesity affected many children within African American communities. The Korean American figures depicted on the right side of the mural are connected with Latinos and African Americans by interlocking circles. This image imagines the unity of these ethnic groups, whose relationships were strained during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. Although some Koreans had blamed Blacks for property damage in Koreatown, Fichter suggests these wounds have healed.

The theme of interracial unity extends into other parts of the mural, which depicts an entire community working together to raise its children. The various necessities of children are interwoven, from a balanced diet and parental love, to health care and education. The overlapping and intersecting circles in which the figures appear reiterate the mural’s themes of community and togetherness. This mural was commissioned by Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) as part of their Neighborhood Pride Mural Program that produces images that speak to the issues multiethnic communities face in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, in 2005 this mural was completely destroyed when the building was renovated.

Written by Simon Huang, c/o ‘24

This page has paths:

  1. Significance of the Los Angeles 1992 Riots Curtis Fletcher
  2. Children Themes in African American Murals Curtis Fletcher
  3. Social and Public Art Resource Center (SPARC) Curtis Fletcher
  4. Neighborhoods: Unified through Muralism Curtis Fletcher

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