Some question whether the new public art approved for Midwood tower keeps the promise to honor Black and LGBTQ history

Midwood Investment & Development, the company that painted over the iconic mural of queer Latina activist Gloria Casarez just before Christmas in 2020, had once pledged to support a new art installation honoring LGBQT and Black history.

On May 8, Midwood appeared before the Philadelphia Art Commission to present its new public art proposal for the site of the old 12th Street Gym in the city’s so-called Gayborhood.

The mural on the gym had honored Casarez, the city’s first director of the Office of LGBT Affairs, who died of breast cancer at age 42 in 2014.

Midwood, a New York based development company, purchased the building at 210 S. 12th St., with plans to build a 32-story, 400,000-square-foot high-rise condo and apartment tower with 376 units. Construction began in 2022 and is expected to be completed by the end of this year.

The city agreed to a “public art bonus” that allowed Midwood to have higher density by providing public art. The developer also received extra density by building an underground parking garage, and contributing to the city’s affordable-housing fund.

However, critics are saying that for a building that received wide publicity when the Casarez mural was painted over, there was too little public notice when Midwood presented its new art project to the Arts Commission.

“Midwood is trying to ram through approval of the public art bonus,” historic preservationist Faye Anderson told The Inquirer. “The concept design was submitted to the Art Commission on or about May 1, 2024. The concept review presentation was made on May 8, 2024. There has been no community engagement.”

A notice was posted on the commission’s website on Friday, May 3, with three business days before the Wednesday, May 8, meeting.

Bruce Bohri, a spokesperson for the city’s Department of Planning and Development, under which the Art Commission serves, wrote in an email: “Public notice for this Art Commission meeting is compliant with the Sunshine Act and consistent with longstanding Art Commission procedure.“

Anderson complained that the Art Commission staff worked with Midwood’s art consultants for about a year, while “the community had three days’ notice.“

Activists critical of the whitewashing of the Gloria Casarez mural, however, said the renderings of three sculptures, by Odili Donald Odita — one will go on 12th Street and two smaller ones on St. James — did not appear “site specific” to either Casarez, nor Henry Minton, the Black caterer who hosted the abolitionists Frederick Douglass and John Brown in his home at 204 S. 12th St.

A couple of the commissioners said the work did not appear to be “site specific,” yet they voted to give final approval at a meeting announced as a “concept design” review. But others said procedures are different when a public art piece is proposed for a private property.

In the recorded meeting, Odita, whose paintings have been exhibited at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Comcast Tech Center, and at the 2007 Venice Biennale, agreed with some of the commissioners that the multicolored sculptures were reminiscent of the rainbow flag. He also said his work was “subtle,” and did not necessarily shout out a political point of view.

But Anderson said when viewing Odita’s work on a gallery website, all of the pieces are of multicolored wall designs: “This could have been anywhere.”

Stephanie Haynes, the former director of Philly Family Pride, a nonprofit group for LGBTQ parents and grandparents, agreed that the community was left out of the Arts Commission process.

“I didn’t find out about the meeting until after it had taken place,” Haynes said last week. “I know it was pushed through, with no community input.”

“I knew Gloria. We were friends. I loved the mural on 12th Street so much that every time I went to Center City, I would drive by and say hi to Gloria.”

Casarez was so beloved in the queer community that for the Philly Pride Festival and OutFest, Haynes said, the community would dance in front of her mural.

The outrage was palpable on the December day when people in Philadelphia’s Gayborhood saw the mural honoring Casarez suddenly whitewashed, literally covered over with white paint.

Later that night, on Dec. 23, 2020, Michelle Angela Ortiz, the Philadelphia artist who had painted the mural, projected an image of the mural onto the blank white walls, with a message: “YOU CAN’T ERASE OUR HISTORY.”

On Christmas Eve, then Mayor Jim Kenney tweeted that he was “stunned” by the sudden removal of the mural: “The community was bracing for the loss of the mural due to demolition, but this act seems unnecessarily hurtful. I join those expressing sadness and anger.” .

The story of protests about the mural made national news, including on the Today Show.

» READ MORE: New art installation in jeopardy after mural of queer activist Gloria Casarez in Philly’s Gayborhood whitewashed without warning

Stephanie Haynes still remembers how she felt when the mural was covered up.

“It was Christmas, and I cried my eyes out,” Haynes said. “They painted over it before they knocked it down. Painting over it was as much of a gut punch as demolishing it.”

Midwood had released a statement that it had reached a tentative agreement with Ortiz and Mural Arts to “create a new and more expansive art installation on South 12th Street that continues to honor LGBTQ activist Gloria Casarez and BIPOC [Black/Indigenous/People of Color] LGBTQ ancestors.”

It also said the company would commit to a public art piece that honored Minton, and that the developer would pay about $655,000 for the public art pieces.

However, after the whitewashing, Ortiz and Mural Arts said they could no longer work with Midwood.

Contacted last week, Ortiz referred The Inquirer to the statement she issued at the time, titled, “Fighting for Gloria.”

In response to critics of the new art proposal, a Midwood representative said: “As previously stated, Midwood was ready and willing to honor its agreement with Mural Arts. Unfortunately, in March 2022, Mural Arts (for their own reasons) declined to proceed with the project.”

“Since acquiring the property, Midwood has offered to contribute to the re-creation of the Gloria Casarez mural. That offer still stands.”