At 1 p.m. on Jan. 3, in the area around Meijer’s Rivertown Market in Detroit, the sky was gray and the temperature was a chilly 35 degrees. However, for any person who arrived at the market via Larned Street at that time and happened to take a good look at the store’s exterior, in a space farthest from the market’s main entrance, their eyes and senses were no doubt moved by a vivid mural displaying a bright and vibrant array of supersize tropical fruit.
About 20 minutes later, at See You Tomorrow restaurant, 7740 Woodward, in Detroit’s North End, the weather outside had not changed. But on the inside, there was a profound feeling of warmth due to the aroma of the brunch dishes being served, along with the mood set by recorded music playing in the background, including “Fantastic Voyage,” a No. 1 R&B hit for the funk band Lakeside in 1980. There also was one additional, spicy, visual ingredient for customers and staff to feast on — a mural of a blazing phoenix.
And as it turns out, the two aforementioned murals at both locations can be traced to one person, Cameron Jenkins.
“The public art projects let me be a part of something that is bigger than me, and allows me to be in alignment with things that I like and care about,” says the 27-year-old Jenkins, who, along with Desiree Kelly, was commissioned by Meijer in 2021 to create two different and compelling murals that can be seen on the Jefferson and Larned sides of the Rivertown Market.
For Jenkins, a self-described “fantasy guy” who fell in love with cartoons and comics at an early age, being able to touch hundreds or even thousands of Detroiters through his murals during any season is a superpower that he still is learning to embrace.
“Detroit is my home base. It’s comforting whenever I work in the city and the people always inspire me. But this (public art) is still new to me,” explained Jenkins, who uses the word “creative” as a noun and as an adjective to describe who he is and his efforts to “create impact” in his community and the world by focusing on themes he is passionate about, including empowerment and the environment. “As I was doing the Meijer mural, I had people stop by to talk to me while I was working — that was new. And I know some of those people had never viewed art that way. Some people said I was brightening up that side of town, and one person told me they were watching the progress I was making every day from their home.
“I don’t want to use the word ‘healing,’ because every place where I may work in Detroit doesn’t need healing. But being able to lift people’s spirits is something that is becoming more important to me because the people let you know how important the work is to them.”
Jenkins’ community connections eventually brought him together with Julian and Lisa Hill, the owners of See You Tomorrow brunch restaurant, after they received a recommendation from a respected community business leader.
“In our local business community, you come to rely on trusting relationships. And when Ms. Pat (Patricia) Duff, the owner of Byron’s Flowers, recommends someone there’s really no other direction you go,” said Julian Hill, who revealed that he originally approached Duff about applying her own artistic talents to create a mural for his restaurant. “Afterwards, I saw Cam’s work on a house in Highland Park off Hamilton, along with his Meijer mural. And when we met, he talked about how he loves to work in the community and wanted to be a part of the rebirth of the city. So we knew he was an artist we wanted to work with, because we wanted the restaurant to be a collaboration of friends, family and the community.”
On a cold day in January, the mural created by Jenkins in Hill’s restaurant can certainly help customers to forget about the weather, if only for a brief moment of time. But Hill says the artwork has far more significance.
“That phoenix symbolizes the struggles and the rise of Detroit, our entrepreneurs and our people,” said Julian Hill, who confided that Jenkins’ completion of the mural before the restaurant was even close to serving customers provided hope that the long-anticipated opening would come to fruition, and it did in November 2022. “The mural 100% gave us that belief when we were trying to open — it transformed the entire place. It represents growth, positivity and transformation.”
During 2023, Julian Hill and Jenkins literally took their relationship a little ways down the street from See You Tomorrow to Celebrity Car Wash, 8641 Woodward at Blaine, which also is owned by the Hills. But unlike the unique, two-sided message board attached to the car wash’s outside signage, which Julian Hill often has used to communicate inspirational messages to motorists and others traveling along Woodward, a mural created by Jenkins in 2023 for the car wash appears on a wall at the back of Hill’s property that will mostly be seen by customers before their vehicles go into the wash tunnel.
In time, Julian Hill said he hopes the mural will be more widely seen. But in his latest collaboration with Jenkins, he says he is thinking more about Jenkins, the entrepreneur, whose business name is Camouflage.
"Being an entrepreneur is hard and there are a lot of murals going up in Detroit,” said the 52-year-old Julian Hill, who regards himself more as a genuine friend than a “mentor” to Jenkins. “I want to help Cam build his career and portfolio. The sharp, vibrant cars that make up the mural add flair to the car wash. But the mural also represents the automotive industry and tech — areas where Cam also is able to apply his talents.
"Sometimes an entrepreneur has to be able to spread their wings, like the phoenix, to really be able to grow. And that mural is all of his vision. It shows his art and everything he can do with it. And it goes beyond creating murals."
As Julian Hill spoke Thursday morning from See You Tomorrow, shortly after the restaurant opened, a slightly more somber tone than usual could be detected in his voice over the phone each time he spoke about anything related to being an entrepreneur in Detroit. He later went on to say that he never wanted Jenkins to be "overlooked" for an opportunity. But if Julian Hill had heard what Jenkins had to say just two days earlier, Hill’s more affable side, including his trademark laugh, may have returned.
“I’ve had friends and known other people who wanted to do something creative and they were told ‘Go get a real job,’ but I never had that,” explained Jenkins, who says he has been drawing and creating as long as he can remember, and was later formally trained as a fine artist and graphic designer at Kendall College of Art and Design, Ferris State and Wayne State. “My family and friends always encouraged me because of the level of seriousness I displayed. And then I invite the people around me into my world. On Instagram, I explain my process. The sharing gives people insight into what I’m doing and then it’s not so unfamiliar because I’m trying to speak to people of all ages, sexualities, genders and races.
"Through my creative exploration, I want to connect with everyone.”
Scott Talley is a native Detroiter, a proud product of Detroit Public Schools and lifelong lover of Detroit culture in all of its diverse forms. In his second tour with the Free Press, which he grew up reading as a child, he is excited and humbled to cover the city’s neighborhoods and the many interesting people who define its various communities. Contact him at: stalley@freepress.com or follow him on Twitter @STalleyfreep. Read more of Scott's stories at www.freep.com/mosaic/detroit-is/. Please help us grow great community-focused journalism by becoming a subscriber
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