Who is an “other”? Who is a “fellow”?
Olivia Gude and Juan Chávez painted this mural in 1997 at 32nd and Lituanica. It covers Fellowship House, a social service agency that supports low-income kids and families with programs like Head Start and after school activities. The whole piece explores the theme of “other” and “fellow”.
I have seen one other mural by Gude, and I really like how she incorporates images of residents and passersby along with their words. She has created murals and mosaics all around Chicago and is a professor of art and art education at the University of Illinois Chicago.
I think of Bridgeport as an old school Irish American neighborhood and home to Mayor Daley. But it also used to be heavily Lithuanian, and today is home to large Mexican American and Chinese American communities. Fellowship House is actually the city’s second oldest settlement house, founded in 1895, to address the ideas of “sameness” and “otherness” that its mural depicts.
Mad About The Mural 