Slide 2: Street art is artwork that appears in public spaces, usually without permission.

It is an unofficial and independent visual art created in public locations for public visibility.

Slide 3:

From Daytona beach Florida, Swoon’s parents were both heroin addicts. The is-
sues with her parents’ mental health affected swoon as well.. She had a chaotic
and traumatic childhood. 

Some of her artwork contains her feelings and interpretations of the social and
political situation in the United States. According to Swoon, her motivations be-
hind her artwork are brought about by social and political situations. 

She is best known as one of the first women Street Artists to gain international
recognition.Her work centers the transformative capacity of art as a catalyst for
healing within communities experiencing crisis. She uses art as activism and pro-
motes progressive opinions through murals and exhibitions. 

Slide 4: Meaning of the Mural

After the demise of the steel industry, the population was living below the poverty line,
Swoon thought the city of Braddock needed some care and led an artistic restoration and
community project. Swoon participated in a number of projects that focused on rehabilitat-
ing the structure in a way that would also engage and benefit the immediate surrounding
community. She helped design homes and arranged work for much of the youth. After the
project, she was inspired to create this Art- Braddock Steel. Swoon’s style of art involves a
person and inside the outline of the person includes their life story. She mainly uses a
stencil and pastes her work. In Braddock Steel, she shows a construction worker, and in-
side his life. In the art it shows a steel factory and workers performing tasks. Socially, the
factory provided jobs for a great amount of people, and after the demise of the steel indus-
try, people were jobless, and there was an increasing famine. The colors being black,
brown and orange blend in with the infrastructure and the orange highlights the construc-
tion work being done. The mural is the man’s whole life. It shows the importance and hard-
work of the steel factory workers. It emphasizes the importance of such an industry be-
yond its production. This may be Swoon’s method of raising awareness. 

Slide 5: Key Features 

-Social Commentary: This street art provides the social commentary of the importance of
jobs and society. Due to the abolition of a single factory, there were negative effects in the
society. This mural is highlighting the socioeconomic problems and poverty the locality
was suffering because of the end of the steel factory, by showing a mural of the life of
workers and their determination. Swoon then helped rebuild the community both infras-
trustructurally and socially. 

-Icons and Symbols:

The art work includes symbols such as the man, the factory, and the workers. The man
may represent the community who is holding onto or depending on the factory for his liveli-
hood. The factory in which a story is shown of people working, symbolises the importance
of infrastructure. When the factory was torn down, it economically hurt members of the
community greatly. The factory is their source of income. The workers are the other mem-
bers of the community who work hard in to earn a living. Overall, the mural itself is a sym-
bol, the whole artwork represents the life of the Braddock community, showing how one in-
dustry meant so much to the people.

-Style: 
The style of this street art is with stencils. Swoon created this artwork at home and brought
it to the street, where she pasted it. She mostly uses outlines and heavy detail with black.