Food & Culture

New Georgetown Protest Mural Takes on Climate Change, South Seattle Air Pollution

The collaboration between Seattle artist Craig Cundiff and anti-gasoline organization Coltura debuted last weekend.

By Michael Rietmulder November 17, 2017

georgetown-mural-780

Craig Cundiff says he knows the effects of climate change all too well. The New Orleans native relocated to Seattle a few years after Hurricane Katrina devastated his hometown. Part of Seattle’s appeal was the ability to live in the city without owning a car. For the visual artist, ditching the automobile was more of a money saver than exhibition of environmental wokeness. Still, there’s a slight hint of pride in his voice when he mentions being car-free for more than a decade.

Cundiff’s work never has never been especially politically, often dealing in abstract portraiture instead. (His “hipsters” series, in particular, is a colorful blast.) But something clicked at the end of this summer.

Hurricane Harvey had just rocked Houston, while Irma and Maria were circling in the Caribbean. The wildfires roiling across the Northwest left Seattle blanketed in a smoke thicker than the soot that accumulates on Cundiff’s windows from Rainier Avenue traffic.

“It’s definitely something we have to live with every day, cleaning this soot and the smog off our windows,” he says.

The 32-year-old was already mulling ideas for a mural contest held by Coltura, a Seattle-based organization aimed at weaning America off gasoline, when his son asked to go to the beach. Because of the wildfires, Seattle was under an air quality watch and Cundiff had the challenge of explaining climate change to a 4-year-old who just wanted to play at the beach.

His son already had his beach goggles in hand and they grabbed an old dust mask lying around for an impromptu photo shoot that became inspiration for Cundiff’s striking new Georgetown mural. The nearly 2,100-square-foot painting, dubbed “My Child, Our Air,” was unveiled on the Vale Street side of the old Poppleton Electric & Machinery Co. building (969 S. Nebraska St.) last weekend.

The sprawling mural depicts his son, face covered by the mask and goggles, in front of a familiar scene of gridlocked Seattle traffic. The hazy orange sun from those wildfire days looms above the snarled highways engulfed in smoke.

“I didn’t want to make it overly dystopian or a bummer or really preachy,” Cundiff says. “I wanted it to be this piece that engaged first and then the ideas start opening up.”

Its placement in industrial Georgetown is no accident. Home to Boeing Field and industry along the Duwamish River Valley, South Seattle in general has been disproportionately affected by air pollution. (“Even right now there’s probably a bunch of semi-trucks parked around the mural,” Cundiff quips.) Asthma rates, which are known to be triggered or worsened by air pollution, are more than 30 percent higher in South Park than the citywide average.

Cundiff’s first activist-driven piece may not be his last. The idea of art-with-a-message working toward “some sort of better place” was rewarding, he says. Especially with an issue near and dear to his heart.

“Climate change is something we think is going to be 20, 30 years down the line, but it’s actually right here, right now,” Cundiff says. “So, right now is the time to act on it.”

Join The Must List

Seattle's best events delivered to your inbox

Follow Us

HERE’S YOUR MUSIC FIX

HERE’S YOUR MUSIC FIX

WhY SEATTLE ISN’T THE MUSIC CITY IT ONCE WAS AND HOW WE CAN CHANGE THAT

In September 2017, I founded Dan’s Tunes, a small publication focused on showcasing Seattle’s local music scene. Throughout the past five years, I have spent countless hours talking with musicians, artists, and other industry folks about the state of the current music climate in Seattle. When we’re on the record, everyone always has nice things…

Min Jin Lee on taking 28 years to write a novel

Min Jin Lee on taking 28 years to write a novel

Insights on life and writing from the bestselling author of Pachinko

Min Jin Lee is a little freaked out about her next novel — a “stupidly” ambitious project about what education means to Korean people across the globe. “I want to stop,” she told me on a call, laughing a bit at her own obsessive nature. As with her previous two books — Pachinko and Free…

Your Favorite Authors Might Very Well be in Seattle this Weekend—Here’s How to Catch Them

Your Favorite Authors Might Very Well be in Seattle this Weekend—Here’s How to Catch Them

The nation’s largest literary conference will be hosted March 8-11, and includes hundreds of offsite events around town.

Book lovers, rejoice: there’s a good chance one of your favorite writers will be out and about Seattle in the next week. You may even be able to catch them giving a free talk at one of your local bars or cafés. From March 8-11, more than 8,000 authors, poets, educators, and editors will descend…

New auditorium, better BMX track and a greener Seattle

New auditorium, better BMX track and a greener Seattle

Casket Case Bellevue company’s product featured in Taylor Swift video Social media absolutely lost it after a casket manufactured by Bellevue-based Titan Casket was featured in American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift’s recent “Anti-Hero” music video. Tweets and Instagram posts from Swift’s fans about the casket have generated tens of thousands of likes and retweets, resulting in…