In 2021, we commissioned 18 Indianapolis artists—known collectively as the Eighteen Collective—to recreate a street mural originally painted on Indiana Avenue in downtown Indianapolis. Each canvas of the mural represents one letter of the phrase “Black Lives Matter,” reflecting the design and style of the individual artist who created it. Although originally intended as a short-term exhibit, Stories from Our Community: The Art of Protest displayed the artists' recreations from Aug. 7, 2021–March 16, 2026.

The original mural was painted in the summer of 2020 following the killing of George Floyd and amid nationwide calls for racial justice. Within its first week, the mural was defaced by vandals and was later removed during street repaving. These canvases preserve the artists’ work and document an important moment of community expression in Indianapolis.

After some preservation work by our collections team, the mural will go on loan to another museum before returning to Indianapolis before ultimately being added to our permanent collection.

We received an Award of Excellence for Leadership in History from the American Association for State and Local History for this effort. 

Video Resources

• Stories from Our Community: The Art of Protest exhibit introduction
• Interviews with the artists
• Interviews with community members