Homegrown on the Greenway

Roxbury-born artist Rixy discusses her new mural on the Greenway, which is a fantastical, futuristic, and alternative take on the famous Midnight Ride.

https://www.meetboston.com/podcast/

Transcript

Meet Rixie And The Greenway Wall

SPEAKER_00 0:05

Founded four centuries ago, Boston has simply never settled. Conversations here determine the future, so let's discover what's next. Join us as we seek out the real Boston, past and present, through stories and perspectives that capture a city always in motion. I'm Martha Sheridan, CEO of Meet Boston, and this is Boston Found.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome to Boston Found, the podcast of Meet Boston. My name is Dave O'Donnell. I'm filling in today as a guest host for our CEO, Martha Sheridan. We're really excited today to be having a conversation with a Boston-based Roxbury-born artist, Rixie, who's going to tell us all about her work on the Greenway. The mural at Dewey Square is undergoing its 11th installation this summer in the Greenway. And we're so thrilled to have the artists with us here joining us to talk all about that process and her background. So thank you so much for joining us today on Boston Found.

SPEAKER_02 1:01

Definitely. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01 1:02

We're really happy to have you. I'm excited to be here. Super cool here. Yeah, to learn all about, you know, the project and the national call that went out and your role. We like our audience to hear directly from the guests about the mentors, milestones, influences, you know, like what really defined your journey to today?

SPEAKER_02 1:21

Definitely. Well, thanks for having me. You know, my name is Rixie. Uh I'm from Roxbury. And then I moved around a lot during my life. And I think in getting here today, especially being from Roxbury, you know, um, I was really surrounded by a lot of different cultures globally, all the different communities I got to connect with, especially Boston's, where it's so like diverse, you know. Um, my family were immigrants, Caribbean, Latino folks that came here and just surrounded themselves with a bunch of other people. And during that time was the 90s, it's the era of like cartoons and illustration, a lot of really like, you know, big, bright, bold messages and like color and really kind of defined like how I was viewing the world around me. So I really grew up with these like large influences of like street art, of graffiti around the neighborhoods I was living with and how that was like communicating messages from the people, uh, as well as cartoons. It's like storytelling in this very fantastical way for me as a kid to understand the life that I was like growing into. So for where the work is today, it's definitely still inspired by all that. It's inspired by how I get to look at community through those lenses. And um, I feel like the graffiti street art community, comic illustration communities, especially of New England, have deeply influenced me and have been really part of me understanding the work I do today.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

That's very interesting. And, you know, I want to get your thoughts or your reaction quickly to something I I mentioned, which was this is the first time, even though it's the 11th installation that you know an open call nationally was put out by the Greenway, but in collaboration with Embrace Boston and Everyone 250. Also great partners. We've had Amari Paris Jeffries on this podcast, and he's has a remarkable, remarkable story as well. And he shared that with us. How does it feel? Like, particularly being from here to be the artist selected from the from the first time they did that process.

SPEAKER_02 3:18

Very exciting, obviously. You know, you're just like kind of like geeking out about that because it just means that your city like sees you, you know, and like the people that you're doing the work with and for sees you. And in a lot of ways, where you know, sometimes we could feel very like isolated or we're trying to understand what is home, who are our communities and things. So, like to know that there was a process where multiple voices were there, multiple voices all like were collaborating to understand like how they wanted to approach this, and that I get to like also be in collaboration in that way, I think is a lot more you know, sweet and special to the way that I like to do my work and how I like to like be around different stories and different like types of color and people and you know, just personalities in that way. So it's just honestly the ideal way I think I would have wanted to be able to do this work.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Well, it's super cool and congratulations on that. Thank you. It's it's uh I think a big moment, not only for the city in the green way, but for an artist like yourself. Absolutely. And it's very interesting that they chose to go through the process, and it's it's so fun to hear you talk about your pride in being selected and sort of the influences of community and being seen and heard that are part of your kind of perspective, anyways, but how that all kind of manifests in this moment and your opportunity to do

Reimagining Paul Revere’s Midnight Ride

SPEAKER_01 4:34

this. So let's talk about the Midnight Ride. Yeah, definitely is the name of the piece. And of course, yes, we've been talking in so many instances about how we can take moments that are associated with the revolution, yeah, right? Some kind of iconic but well-known version of a narrative that might not be completely true in the first place, but like Paul Reverend's Midnight Ride, right? And of course, we were all commemorating that last year. Yes, April of 25 was the 250th of that. I think it's so interesting how you took a term and a concept and you're reinterpreting it in a way and putting your own imprint on it. And we'll we'll talk more about in general how we reframe, reinterrogate, whatever. But for you, how did this concept coalesce? This idea, this sort of reimagining of a term we all know.

SPEAKER_02 5:23

Absolutely. Well, I think in my first approach, I had to understand that I didn't know a lot. I knew really nothing, you know, and not nothing, but in comparison to how large this like chapter is in our history, how large like these conversations and narratives have gone. I don't I don't know, Paul Rabier. I don't know people of that chapter.

SPEAKER_01 5:45

When you say you know nothing, you mean about like you had to you wanted to go back and look at that era and understand.

SPEAKER_02 5:50

And understand not even just the era, but what does it mean to people today? You know, really like take a step outside of like my observation really helps me when I want to find inspiration or like trying to problem solve. I take a step back to like look a little larger, you know, and realizing like what do I know, what do I not know? Um, understanding that so much of like New England's history around revolution uh is taught at, you know, in this elementary school age where I learned about Paul Revere, Boston Tea Party, like those are my very early understandings of that chapter in in life. And so I wanted to look at if we're thinking about the future or even presently and the future, I'm like, well, there's so many ways that I see my community do this work. You know, what does the, what does that look like today? You know, what does revolution look like in the actions and practices of who we are today? Because that's what it looked like back then. Kind of like filling a little bit of that gap, you know, looking for more stories that between checkpoint A and B, what was underrepresented, what voices did I not see, what what don't I remember from the textbook? And I just wanted to, yeah, reapproach history, ask more questions, go in depth about knowledge and information. And with the midnight ride, it made me reflect about what I am doing at midnight. And I'm like, like most artists, we're probably in the studio, you know, or like you're thinking about like advocacy that happens outside of a nine to five. You know, I was instantly like, this type of work today looks like me and my friends in the studio, uh, the you know, orgs and people I get to work with during the day outside of these frameworks. And so I really wanted to think about how I feel like we are making our midnight ride every day and doing this work outside of the like usual systems.

SPEAKER_01 7:40

Right, our midnight ride every day. You know, I'm always looking during these conversations to think about what works as like a title for the episode.

SPEAKER_02 7:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Our midnight ride every day is something that could work. I mean, it's it it brings in like the everyday overlaying this like super impactful moment, right? Yes, yeah, and you know, that's something else that we've been focused on, not only on this podcast, but just in general. It's like for this commemoration, this anniversary, there's a lot of organizations that have done really good work trying to uncover and our unearth some of those stories, those more marginalized perspectives and viewpoints. And if you endeavor to do it, you can. Of course, those viewpoints are marginalized and aren't as documented.

SPEAKER_02 8:17

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01 8:17

But art seems like such a natural way to do it. Because even if you can't always find that voice and say, here's this letter or this moment, you can imagine.

SPEAKER_02 8:28

Yes. Imagination is such like a it's a superpower on its own, but it's a tool to like fill in a lot more that you didn't get that was in front of you.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

Yeah, no, absolutely. So, but let's talk about kind of the genre or genres that are kind of intersecting here. There's like intersectionality, right? You know, there's aspects that I know this is within your work generally, but aspects that are futuristic and spiritual, but also history and heritage. You know, for you, what are the aspects of intersectionality that come together for this particular piece of work?

SPEAKER_02 9:01

When I said that I was deeply influenced by like cartoons and video games, all these things that felt like, you know, maybe the narrative around them was that they're not real. You know, everybody told me magic's not real. I also grew up in Las Vegas. Everybody's like, magic's not real. I'm like, and then you see the strings sometimes. But I think in this type of work, you know, I don't see strings. Like it, it just when I think of magic, I think about what like my cultures and ancestors have been able to accomplish and what people have been able to accomplish. It's so magical. It's it is, they are superpowers on their own. And so I feel like that conversation of that fantastical, the spiritual I like see it amongst folks, and that I understand why that becomes inspired in translated into artwork, you know. If maybe I might not see you with like a hot pink shirt on, or you know, somebody I don't see you sparkling at the currently, but I'm like, oh, I I I could feel that though. Like it feels like sparkles in here. So then you get to draw that and you get to like really like translate emotion that way. I find that with looking back at people and the way that I understood these things, spirituality is so like in-depth and really part of my lineage and the people that have found their own like spirit and revolutionary power. I don't I feel like the level of resistance and resiliency is always laced with that magic. It just seemed so hand in hand. I just felt like I was seeing it happen at home in the ways that folks would influence themselves and become superheroes on their own, you know, very advocate for each other. And it's just hard to explain, actually. That I thought that was the hardest question because I'm like, I just see me magic at home all the time.

SPEAKER_01 10:47

I mean, that's fascinating, you know. And I think there's a tie back to the revolution there as well. Exactly. You know, everyday people, you know, not everyone was a like a commoner or everyday person, but the idea of how radical that was, I bet there were some that were like, it's gonna take some magic for this to actually work.

SPEAKER_02 11:05

And it doesn't mean that like you had to just be a specific type of person. You weren't like just because you were bitten by a radioactive spider, now you have powers, like, no, everybody has that, regardless, kind of thing. And so wanting to really intertwine them a lot further and seeing uh like the magical realism and surrealism that we kind of are experiencing daily.

SPEAKER_01 11:26

Super cool. We're excited for everyone to experience that when they look at your piece of art. I mean, whether they're residents or visitors or people just out for their lunch

Magic Symbols And An All-Girls Crew

SPEAKER_01 11:34

break, and we'll talk about third spaces in a moment because I know that's integral to kind of how you work and approach art as well. Definitely. But I read that if you can disclose, I read that there are some some Easter eggs kind of planted throughout. Can you talk about that a little bit? Definitely for both this work specifically, but also like how you approach that when you create.

SPEAKER_02 11:52

So, in collaboration with people, like especially public art, I'm doing it with the public. You know, there's a lot more voices versus if I'm doing work at home and like in a studio space and I'm only listening to myself. So when I'm doing work with others, I really want to make sure that there's little moments that still feel personal. Like, yes, I'm doing work for everybody, but here's also like maybe an initial. So, like in this work, I think like more obvious little symbols that people see are like A, S, and R. Those are like uh me, Ayana, and Seiji, who are the other two girls that are helping me paint that I know what's get to talk about. There's a Sankofa symbol that's like in the chains, and that tends to be um a symbol of looking into the future, of protection, really like reflecting and being introspective about like your past to kind of move forward. And it's laced in like the ironwork of Caribbean cultures, so it's really used culturally. And little moments like that, I love putting numbers and letters and symbols and things that could kind of feel very iconographic to my generation and to the cultures that kind of get it a little bit and that we get to teach other people about.

SPEAKER_01 12:55

Yeah, no, and that's the whole point, right?

SPEAKER_02 12:57

Yeah, and then of course, other personal things, but that's the point of not revealing everything.

SPEAKER_01 13:01

Yeah, you keep those with you.

SPEAKER_02 13:03

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_01 13:04

But you mentioned some of the other artists. Can you expand a little bit more on the team, how the team came together, who those figures are?

SPEAKER_02 13:09

Yeah, I'm so excited. We get to have this all-girls team, you know. That's great. It's Ayana Mack and Sage Evangelina, who are two other artists in their own that are part of this like Boston community. They do murals as well, but we're all very multifaceted. They have such like expansive like conversations and practices with the different things that they love. But we've all known each other for like a great handful of years, especially in street art, and especially when it's a very male-dominated practice. So you kind of look for the other girls really quickly, like, yes, you know, like we get to like really help transform the next generations of how this like industry and journey of ours, we love it so much. How can we help it, you know, uh build? So I get to work with them, which has been awesome. Many times where we're all kind of working based off of you know, real life things too. So if we're able to come in, if I have things going on, you know, we find ways to work with each other, and it's been very beautiful.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

So sometimes you're all out there together, but sometimes it might be like a like a shift or based on someone's schedule there, there.

SPEAKER_02 14:12

Sure, but also in the process of it itself. So for example, how's it?

SPEAKER_01 14:15

How's that working?

SPEAKER_02 14:16

Yeah, yeah. The first typically I'm painting by myself, you know. I really enjoy like it's easier because you just know your own process, right? So communicating with other people about your process is really hard sometimes, especially if they're gonna do it for you and you're like, uh, I don't know. Um, so that's been a fun challenge. But you're like, this is how I want it done, and then you don't know how to expect others to do. But they and they just know so much about their own practice. So it's like you're finding a fourth language to like, you know, bridge. But maybe in the first few days, I want to settle in, I want to understand the process, I want to prepare the space, prepare the kitchen for everybody to come in, kind of thing. Understand, like, okay, what is gonna be necessary. So if I'm my first few days was just working on the lines and the outline, you know, really just making sure that the wall was good and ready. And then it's like, all right, girls want to come in, help me just like fill this up, you know, let's put a lot of things down. And now we're at the position where maybe sometimes I do need a moment by myself to like blend, or maybe I'm just confused. I'm like, please don't come. Like, I have there's a mess, you know. I need to like clean it up. And then, you know, we get to really ask each other for help, which is like really beautiful. And there's many moments where it's like they get to do something and inform me of something that's gonna help me learn, um, and vice versa. So it's just been a really nice, like, little tag team, but getting to ask your friends for help has been a really fun thing. Yeah, in the process. Definitely, yeah, definitely. And we are all based in how we feel too, you know. So if I'm like, no, I need to be by myself, they're like, you let us know what you need. Or if they're like, Yeah, I'm ready to paint, I want to be a, you know, I'm ready to do this and this, I'm like, I got you.

SPEAKER_01 16:04

Well, some of these kind of themes that we're talking about and like human connections and finding professional moments, private moments, how you've talked about bridging gaps between various things just so far in the

Third Spaces Public Art And Boston’s Future

SPEAKER_01 16:16

conversation. But I know you talk about and many of us are focused on the importance of third spaces.

SPEAKER_02 16:20

Definitely, right?

SPEAKER_01 16:21

And trying to find those spaces, intersections, moments where people, you know, they're not at home, they're not at work, but they need some other place or space for comfort for interaction. So for for you, what is the importance of that? And how through through your art, you know, with this project, certainly, but just in general, you know, what is your viewpoint on the importance of those spaces?

SPEAKER_02 16:42

Definitely. Well, in the art first, you know, I get to like bring certain conversations to the table, right? So, say with a project like this, we get to talk very largely about the state of the world and certain themes that we are dealing with like socially, politically. And then I get to talk about fantastical and imaginational like concepts. So it's like right there I'm sharing and mixing multiple things. And so with third spaces, especially around public art, where it's outside of like restricted walls of restricted spaces and opening up that like accessibility to different people, that then is such a larger invitation so that people can come to like the greenway, a large park in front of a wall that also is blending conversations, inviting my different worlds or the artists' different worlds together, so they could use this space to then uh have those connections that they might not get at home, won't be able to get in certain workspaces, all these spaces that are very defined and restricted for what they are, you know, even if it's a coffee shop or the gym, you know, it's still too singular in that way, where art and third spaces really get to allow people to just be from all different parts of the world and backgrounds and have a safer space to like have conversation. I think I think public art really like promotes a lot more safe safety and empathy for people to like just look at color, look at like joyous concepts and find that they're allowed to also feel that empowered to like speak and dream of what they would want to. So third spaces to me are just like deeply inspiring for people and really starts to kind of like take off the layers and the veils of what restricted spaces can do. And um, as a person who I love doing murals when it's nice out, you know, it's New England, so maybe during the winter we can't always do murals. So I do enjoy having my work when it's inside of spaces, and then getting to bridge the fact that there is public art and bridging the fact that like one can exist with the other, artists can exist, and that everybody is allowed to like move within like walls and yeah, different kind of areas.

SPEAKER_01 18:53

You know, it's it's a a a topic and and a need for for people that has definitely entered the the destination marketing world. So kind of like what we do at Meet Boston, right? We've seen talking to our like colleagues and counterparts, other destinations who have good public art and outdoor spaces and just places for reflection and a different kind of exchange. It's something that like destinations are increasingly trying to say we have that here. You know, whether it's to a visitor, even like a business traveler, a convention attendee, it's like you want to get outside of those four walls. It's like you can explore this city and find places to have those moments that people just need.

SPEAKER_02 19:30

Exactly. Yeah, I think public art does a lot for that.

SPEAKER_01 19:33

I would agree. So let's come back to the 250th for a moment, right? And you know, we've talked a little bit and we've had other conversations on this podcast about reinterrogating the past and again unearthing, finding those other narratives or those other voices and looking anew at stories we thought we were familiar with, right? Definitely there's that, and there's also reimagining the future, right? Which is it sounds like almost like an anachronistic concept, like you're reimagining what's ahead, but it's not. And in your art, like you kind of do that. So for you, for for for Boston, for for the world, but for Boston, like how do you want to reimagine what's to come for Boston, let's say over the next 250 years?

SPEAKER_02 20:15

Well, kind of like you said, right? There is already a history behind us that has been written, rewritten. So I can't say a lot for that, but imagination, I think definitely allows you to ask those new questions and create new answers. That doesn't necessarily mean it's right or wrong. You know, I could say, oh, the next answer for the 250th is this thing, and we will never know. But the potential and different avenues to like create different concepts and solutions around us, I think really looks at the next 250th as like a lot of hope, a lot of potential, a lot of like endless, limited, limitless possibilities. You know, I really love looking at like color as doing that. You know, I'm like, well, the colors expand like 500 different like hues and tones. So why is there not like 500 different ways we can take the next 250 years? Why are like the answers that we've been having, the patterns, why have they only been around the same one or two patterns? You know, I think again, and not trying to come up with like a singular answer, but thinking at, you know, the many ways that we can like look at what we can do tomorrow. Right. You know, I love looking ahead at like, what do I want to do this evening? I could do anything when I get out of work today. And I'm like, okay, I could go to the movies after the mural or I could go home. Or I could do this or I could do that. So I really love looking at the next 250th as a way to inspire other people to look at the fact that they can think of anything they want and really consider what is the history that they want to make when it comes to like I did that yesterday. And socially, I I just find imagination and like the creative strategy that can really be deeply rooted to help us create more connection through community and politically and socially, I I really wish a lot more folks explored how art, not just in consuming it through public art, but in trying to create it, can help them look at these like not, I don't want to say them issues, but you know, the challenges that are approaching them can be looked at differently, can be looked at softer, can be looked at actually.

SPEAKER_01 22:26

Oh, and more we got it. Yeah. This is what's next.

SPEAKER_02 22:30

Yeah. Like it's not that one singular scary thing. It's actually 500 other cool ideas that you could come up with for the next 250 years. There's a lot of time.

SPEAKER_01 22:39

Yeah. Well speaking of cool ideas, I mean the Greenway, which we'll talk a bit more about in a moment, has been, you know, such an enhancement to Boston definitely as a destination, right? How it connects different cultures and communities and neighborhoods. The wall, you know, which has been had installations for about a dozen years now, we again really embrace that from a destination marketing standpoint, that we are a public art city. And Boston is kind of you know coming into its own as it relates to that. I I I believe, I believe. But I feel like the wall is also the the the Greenland wall, the Dewey Square Mural is having a moment. All of the art out there has been fascinating, right? But you're kind of in the midst of this this moment, right? Where you know Rob Gibbs pro-black had an installation a couple years ago that was out for almost two years, right? That was great. Another local artist then we had Jeffrey Gibson whose install came alongside his exhibit over at the ICA. And like in that moment, not only in US world history having an Indigenous artist like Jeffrey Gibson's work was tremendous. And now we're gonna have back-to-back female artists both Roxbury born what does it mean for you to be in this moment for the mural, the wall and for Boston?

SPEAKER_02 23:47

This is a moment of like transformation, right? I feel like we've been feeling a shift happen in the last couple years, but now like the wave is really riding it feels like the wave is actually here. It's not the training it's not the talking about the big wave. So it feels super awesome of course but uh transformation has been the biggest feeling to feel like the Greenway and public art and our community is really like reinterpreting, recontextualizing systems, really looking at what these words mean like at first the word community to me has made me feel a lot of weird things. And I'm like, no, because it it is so many different things all the time. So to be in this certain moment where I know that it is part of that wave, part of the transformation, that to me just means such a larger impact to come after you know what Pro Black was able to do for like the local community, what we're able to do for the communities connected to us, you know, there's so many voices that we're beside it's just awesome to be part of a history that is transforming and part of what I'm thinking of like you know present day and futuristic revolution so let's talk about

The Greenway As A Living Connector

SPEAKER_02 24:59

the green way.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

You know talk about third spaces we've talked about arts you know as I mentioned for us marketing a city and being able to say to a prospective visitor or or a business traveler, whomever or resident you know, there's this way that this this path that's wayfinding that's art that's artisans that's beer gardens that's fountains that's carousels and ferris wheels that can get you all the way from Chinatown to the north ending like six different you know when we talk about wayfinding but in ways that also inspire beautify and experience it's like we're just so so lucky. Yes how do you feel about the greenway as one of these third spaces and how fortunate are we in Boston to have this?

SPEAKER_02 25:40

I love the green way you know I've I've been around before my project I I knew of the greenway since the like murals and the public arts started there like even the first murals I was in school and that's what ended up inspiring me to like want to continue around it. You know so I feel like it's always been like a a wayfinder it's always been at least for community in that way you know oh go along the green way. I know I'm going to the Boston Harbor I'm starting around Chinatown like what you were saying. So it always gave like a great index of like connecting all these different parts around me and again creating accessible art as like public art is growing. And I think that's like very much before my understanding and maybe my like professional connection to it. So then being here now and having like a different lens, getting to work with them in this type of way you really like look at things differently of course when going from like personal to professional and realizing wow how much deeper that work goes where it is like connecting the different voices all the projects and what it has meant like for them to be able to like bring this together. So I love public art in that way but especially like having gotten to be part of the Greenway and getting to like work with them knowing that it's like to me this is what Boston is and a lot of times I think people have such a stereotypical idea of what Boston is.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Welcome my world yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah oh my gosh me Boston uh so funny just clicked but the fact that like it's the same thing though it's like you're constantly trying to introduce people to like no this is the Boston exactly partners that share the values of stories that are building that experience.

SPEAKER_02 27:18

Yeah and now that I'm being here and and realizing it for myself that I'm like oh I'm 10 minutes from Roxbury where I'm staying right now and then I'm getting lunch in Chinatown usually and then we walked to the north end um when we went to like the Paul Revere house or I get to go to the harbor where you know I used to go hang out with people all the time. So I'm just like everything really is right here and connected. So it's been great to see it in this way and how much more can happen.

SPEAKER_01 27:43

Yeah no I agree and you know we're always talking about access and inclusion along the waterfront. Yes and how not just for Boston but many cities that's that's that's difficult. So the fact that we have people working towards it and you have you know a stretch of parkway and greenway that kind of is that invitation it kind of allows that that conversation to start in terms of is this space for me. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 28:06

And with the art that's here also it's not only just about the different towns of Boston but actually getting to meet artists and voices that are connected to the communities. You know all the art on the Greenway has been awesome and all the installations. So it's like I get to see it from my like mural painting lens, but then I get to be down the street from like Jihari's like hoop earrings or like the bike installation in Chinatown and the photography that's there. It's really cool that you get to see other artists that also are getting to take space in the Greenway from all these different angles as well.

SPEAKER_01 28:37

Yeah well now that you're back and kind of refamiliarizing yourself with the city what are what are some of the things beyond the Greenway of course that you have enjoyed? You know what are some of the cultural experiences neighborhoods restaurants just what sort of things do you like to see and do across Boston that you want people to maybe check out for themselves if they have a chance.

SPEAKER_02 28:56

Definitely Chinatown I've been to Taiwan Cafe at least like once or twice a week getting some dumplings I'll go get dumplings and then go get like you know coffee nearby um mostly in Chinatown I get to go to the commons after if I'm really like needing a walk that's been really sweet. That's been I've been I've spent so much time in Chinatown. I haven't gotten to in a long time you know Chinatown's a great neighborhood I really love it and everything that they're developing around art and like community support it's really great to see that area being supported the way that it is getting to be so closely to the commons and having more green space to just walk around but I'm also a person of like being by the water so you know I've come back and forth from like seaport area and how closely all this is to Roxbury and Dorchester. It's just like it's it has been nice very much refamiliarizing myself and realizing how much there's been these little sweet treats that I grew up with and getting to outside of just painting I get to just actually just hang out in the park you know and hang out in my community and feel like it's definitely a part of home again.

SPEAKER_01 30:00

Yeah that's great to hear.

Where To Follow And Celebrate

SPEAKER_01 30:02

All right so as we get towards the end of the conversation here just thanks again so much for coming on Boston Found and sharing your viewpoint and perspective and where you are with the project. It's it's fascinating for us to learn more about we want to make sure that our audience can find you and learn more about you. So what is the best way for folks to follow you, see your content, share what you're up to?

SPEAKER_02 30:20

Uh so in this age I'm definitely on social media. You can find me on Instagram mostly at Rixie X I R. So R-I-X-Y X-I-R. And from there there's other contact things if we want to go into conversation but I'm a person of being with the public and I love meeting at the wall. So if you see that I'm doing the mural definitely stop by. Just come out just come out you know usually I'll say hi if I'm down I like to chat I love being at community events too. So if I'm not at my event I'm trying to support some type of function some type of reception some type of talk uh some way to be with folks and I really love meeting people there as well but especially to like meet at this wall we have a big celebration that will happen at the end of June on June 27th from 3 to 6 p.m we'll get to actually celebrate the opening of the mural be with everybody and you know have this invitation to be at the wall together and to celebrate like this new you know unlocked kind of feeling so that'll be a great way.

SPEAKER_00 31:19

So meet you at the wall especially on the 27th of June we will thanks so much for joining us today Brixie yeah thank you so much for having me looking to find more Boston stories go to meetboston.com and don't forget to share and subscribe to the Boston Found podcast