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Local artist commemorates MLK Jr. at Tanger Outlets - Press of Atlantic City

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ATLANTIC CITY — The blacked-out windows of an empty storefront at Tanger Outlets at The Walk became local artist John Morris’ canvas Thursday morning in an attempt to uplift the community.

Partnering with the Atlantic City Arts Foundation and Tanger Outlets, Morris created the window mural he envisioned to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. for the holiday.

“Tanger Outlets Atlantic City’s goal was to partner with our community to commemorate Martin Luther King Jr. and his enduring legacy through the power of art,” said Rachel Hentschel, marketing director for Tanger Outlets.

Joyce Hagen, the executive director of the Atlantic City Arts Foundation, said she was grateful for the opportunity to add more art to the city.

“We’re grateful Tanger Outlets recognizes us as an organization in the city the community trusts, and that can help achieve their goals,” said Hagen.

The partnership between Tanger Outlets and the Arts Foundation led them to Morris.

Artist John Morris continue working on an artwork he is creating on store windows of Martin Luther King Jr. at Tanger Outlets in Atlantic City Thursday Jan 13, 2022. The artwork commemorates Martin Luther King Jr. and his legacy through the power of art and community.

Hagen said she usually reaches out to several artists she thinks would fit a project, but on such short notice, she thought of Morris as the best fit this time.

Morris had worked previously with the Arts Foundation on projects featuring his art, which is one of the reasons Hagen turned to him for the MLK project.

Morris recently was part of an Arts Foundation ARTeriors projects in which 12 artists transformed a three-story house on Ocean Avenue into a pop-up work of art. Part of that project’s purpose was to help highlight the ongoing revitalization of the city.

Morris has done other work shown in Atlantic City, including contributing to a Black Lives Matter exhibit at the African American Heritage Museum at the Noyes Arts Garage last year. The exhibit highlighted 400 years of injustices faced by the Black community and how that was a precursor to today’s movement.

For this year’s MLK project, Morris had to create the window mural within a week, due to his busy work schedule, a tight timeframe.

“This means a lot to me,” said Morris, an Absecon resident. “Any opportunity I have to create and do what I want creatively is great, as long as I have the time.”

Morris, 38, is a driver for New Jersey Transit and co-owner of Drips ArtxFashion art studio in Absecon.

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He also will soon be a new student at Stockton University for the spring semester. Morris plans to pursue a degree as a business major with a minor in cannabis studies and aims to incorporate all of his business knowledge with art and the cannabis industry.

For the MLK project at The Walk, Morris’ canvas consisted of several empty storefront windows and doors.

On one, King stands at a podium speaking into several microphones. Morris said this image was to amplify the words of peace and equality about which King spoke.

On another, he painted a megaphone with lightning bolts and the year “1963” on it. Morris said that was to commemorate the year of the “I Have a Dream” speech.

A third window panel was covered in some of King’s trademark phrases, including “Let freedom ring.” Morris said that was the phrase that stuck out to him the most since he first learned about the speech in elementary school.

Morris reminisced about a time when he was younger and would see his grandfather wearing a T-shirt he got while attending the March on Washington on Aug. 28, 1963.

That was also the day and place that King gave the “I Have a Dream Speech,” which was Morris’ inspiration for the project.

“I remember reading it as a kid. The ‘I Have a Dream’ speech where he said, ‘Let freedom ring’ — stands out a lot to me because of the divide in the world,” said Morris. “We’re divided more now than we have been in recent years. We’re moving backwards. We have to remember where we came from and where Martin Luther King Jr. wanted us to be.”

Hagen said Atlantic City is a diverse community and that there are additional creative ways people could express the work King did.

“Hopefully, what he created will stick with the children of the community, and they will take the concepts of Martin Luther King Jr. and live their lives in a stronger way because of the artwork,” said Hagen.

Tanger Outlets also plans to further support Black art, artists and cultural organizations by making a donation to both the The Black Artist Fund and the Black Art Futures Fund, according to Hentschel.

The Black Artist Fund is a national nonprofit organization founded by Black creatives to address inequity in arts funding, according to the organization’s website.

The Black Art Futures Fund provides support to “Black-led” and “Black-benefitting” small businesses and community-based arts and culture organizations across the United States, according to its website.

Hentschel said Tanger doesn’t have any other specific projects with the Arts Foundation planned at the moment but that if the opportunity arose, her organization would “love to be a part of it.”

“Speeches have their place, marches have their place, art has its place. We’re not good at speeches, but we’re good at art,” said Hagen.

Contact Selena Vazquez:

609-272-7225

svazquez@pressofac.com

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Local artist commemorates MLK Jr. at Tanger Outlets - Press of Atlantic City
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