An east view of the south-facing Greene St. mural at October Gallery. (Photo: Rasheed Z. Ajamu)
On Saturday, June 13, October Gallery unveiled its new mural honoring Sun Ra and the Sun Ra Arkestra. The pioneering Afrofuturist band’s home base at 5626 Morton St., a little over a mile away from the mural, since the late 1960s.
Sun Ra formed the Arkestra in Chicago in the mid 1950s; their music quickly became seen as avant-garde. They later moved to New York City before moving to Philly in the late 1960s, settling in the rowhome.
Sun Ra lived and rehearsed there until his “Saturn return” (death) in 1993. 102-year-old band leader and longest-running Arkestra member Marshall Allen and his son still live there.
Designed by Ernel Martinez and Keir Johnston, ‘In the Orbit of Ra’ is located at 6353 Greene Street on the southern wall of the October Gallery.
“I actually suggested the name of the mural,” said Pete Angevine, the mural’s Project Manager since 2022. “It’s a reference to an album they have by the same name, but I think it’s also fitting for the band and the project given its many members and the mural’s many iterations.”
Mural Arts Executive Director Jane Golden emceed the dedication. Speakers included Allen, Johnston, and October Gallery principal Mercer Redcross.
Assistant artists on the project included Juan Carlos Valencia, James Enderson, Terrence Boatic, Efrain Herrera, Jaq Masters, and Samiha Hadeed.
The mural dedication featured DJ sets from Germantown artist OLUWAFEMI and music journalist Marcus Moore. The Arkestra even played a 30-minute set.
This was Mural Arts’ second public art dedication in Germantown this past weekend; the first was the new ‘Weaving a Bountiful Harvest’ mural at Weavers Way, unveiled on Friday, June 12. Young Germantowner Samiha Hadeed assisted on both.
Johnston and Martinez are part of an art collective called Amber Art and Design, which started working on the mural 10 years ago. Johnston said that, early on, creating the mural took a lot of advocating and educating people about Sun Ra’s impact in Philadelphia.
The mural initially started as a passion project that the artists were hoping would grow into a city-wide festival honoring the band.
“In a way, we were dreaming too big,” said Johnston. “But now we’re just happy to see it finish, especially before Marshall Allen’s Saturn return.”
Germantown Info Hub requested a comment from lead band member Marshall Allen about the newly finished work of art. He responded: “All I wanted to do was play music, and because of the discipline Sun Ra taught me, I get to witness this mural.”
Since Project Manager Angevine joined the project, the mural’s location bounced from Chelten Station to the Public Assistance Office on Chelten Ave. to, finally, the October Gallery.
Johnston explained that most murals are painted on polytab or non-woven media that allow the artists to transport them from location to location, before being plastered on the wall and painted over again in greater detail.
Because the Gallery’s wall is smaller than the mural’s first two intended locations, its final iteration had to come together as a collage. Johnston and Angevine, both longtime fans, agreed that the different iterations of the wall also lends itself to the way Sun Ra and The Arkestra created their music.
They say it involves stopping and starting from the beginning and collaging pieces together.
October Gallery Principal, Mercer Redcross, says that Mural Arts was looking for a south-facing wall and was ecstatic to be chosen. But, ultimately, he signed off on the project because he saw it as a mutually beneficial relationship of artists helping fellow artists out.
“Art works to perpetuate itself and make sure that it continues,” said Redcross.
After the okay from October Gallery at the beginning of May — and permission from Greene Manor South to operate in their apartment parking lot — Johnston and Martinez started piecing the mural together.
Johnston says they had been working every day for about four weeks straight, with the exception of three rainy days.
Johnston, who says his family has lived in Germantown since the early 1900s, says it was kind of fitting that the mural found its home in Germantown. He also grew up visiting the October Gallery.
“I live in West Philly now, so it’s also like a homecoming for me in a way,” said Johnston.
Redcross, 79, admitted that when he was younger, Sun Ra was a bit subversive and eccentric. During his generation, he said, Black people had a bit more disposable income, so they had time to interact with someone as alternative as Sun Ra.
“I mean, can you imagine in the 50s, 60s, and 70s, a strong Black male image talkin’ about going to the moon,” said Redcross. “A whole generation of people becoming aware of who they were and what they could get done, and here’s this guy telling us that the sky is the limit.”
Three-year Germantown resident Mojo Lyons says she was first introduced to Sun Ra as a student at Temple, and she saw the Arkestra play at The Rotunda in West Philly about 20 years ago.
“I almost crashed my car trying to see the mural when they first started it,” said Lyons. “For alternative music to be such a focal point in a neighborhood as alternative as Germantown… I’m in awe.”
Saundi Wilson, a Greene Manor resident, said a neighbor told him about the mural. His father, Henry Wilson, played with the band years ago, off and on.
“The mural is fabulous,” he said.
The event concluded with a performance from the band and its newer members. The neighborhood seemed to welcome the mural as it offered a snapshot of our history.
“Public art is extremely powerful, and things like this tell the world, the city, the community who we are and what we’re about,” said Redcross.
“Germantown’s always been a cultural engine, and when things like this happen, it makes the engine more powerful.”
Deesarine Ballayan is a Liberian-American freelance journalist from and based in Philadelphia. Her work is featured in The Philly Download, the Logan Center, CSIS, The Philadelphia Citizen, and Billy Penn @ WHYY.