More often than not, I pass this mural as I make my way somewhere or another. Located along Flatbush Avenue, between Farragut and Glenwood roads, most days I take no notice of this mural. The first time I spotted it, however, I stopped in my tracks and took a moment to admire the work. Instead of a boring brick wall between shops, the splash of color and depiction of what presumably looks like a disk jockeying woman at some sort of event livens up the block. It doesn’t seem like a recent installation, having the weathered look of a mural that’s been there for at least a year. There aren’t any overtly blatant signs of a signature, and it may have been commissioned by the owners of that portion of the block. Despite the anonymity of the artist, I feel like their purpose for the mural was abstract of sorts. At first glance, it just looks like a DJ at a party, but when more carefully observed, rather than just a DJ, the woman at the table could be a teacher or instructor sitting at a desk. The arms raised can represent the varying, diverse students being educated but it also depends on what the viewer’s perspective is when looking at the artwork.
It looks like the medium the artist worked with was just paint and the wall itself. The mural feels like it was meant to last for as long as time allows it to, fitting seamlessly into the rest of Flatbush. Overall, the amount of time I take to really analyze the mural depends on how much of it I can see, as well as the time I have available to idly look at a wall while in the middle of the sidewalk. I find the artwork to be very attention grabbing and think that it’s a part of what makes this neighborhood so unique.
-Julia Duze
