RTA short film Elevates Message of “We Wear the Mask” Campaign

Greater Cleveland RTA recently released a short film, aptly titled, “From Ashes to Beauty: Art, Transportation & Place Making.” The film first made its debut at the Greater Cleveland Urban Film Festival in mid-September 2022.

A community partner in the “We Wear the Mask” campaign, GCRTA, through the production of this film, captures what “place-making” can look like when individuals and organizations come together with a common goal.

In this case, the common goal was to create a piece of public art (a mural) on a once-barren RTA wall at the intersection of Woodhill and Mt. Carmel (Cleveland, OH).

But this isn’t just any piece of public art…

The mural is inspired by Paul Laurence Dunbar’s poem, “We Wear the Mask,” and sheds light on the suppressed trauma of people of color as they wear the mask of conformity.

Yet it is not Dunbar’s poem, alone, that influenced the mural’s final design. Rather, this special piece of art was informed by artists, community partners, and Cleveland-area residents (especially those residing in the Buckeye-Woodhill neighborhood), as each weighed in on the importance of both the design and the purpose behind it.

Now complete, the “We Wear the Mask” mural captures the eyes, hearts, and minds of people traversing the intersection of Woodhill and Mt. Carmel, where both passers-by and residents alike cannot help but reflect on the transformative power of art.