Once a target for graffiti, the Bush Refrigeration building now sports a mural honoring the history of its East Camden neighborhood.
By Matt Skoufalos | July 16, 2024
Bush Refrigeration is wrapped in a mural honoring East Camden locals and landmarks. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
Check out the Google Maps street view history for 1700 Admiral Wilson Boulevard in Camden, City, and you’ll see a succession of images.
In most of them, the first six feet of the Bush Refrigeration building is wrapped in layers of graffiti of varying complexity.
Today, if you roll by the property on either side of the six-lane highway, you’ll catch a glimpse of its newest paint job: a $25,000 community arts project that took three Camden City muralists 18 months to conceive and create.
On Tuesday, dignitaries from the city, county, and state government joined with East Camden residents, community groups, and neighbors from across the city to commemorate its completion.
“For many years, this location was tagged with unwanted graffiti,” Camden City Mayor Victor Carstarphen said, adding that the vandalism created “an unfair perception for building owners” along a main city thoroughfare.
“We never want the perception that Camden doesn’t care,” Carstarphen said. “Today, we made this right.”
The Camden City artist collective “We Live Here” overcame unfavorable weather and work that was itself twice graffitied to complete a project showcasing the history of the East Camden neighborhood. Their mural celebrates the myriad institutions — both individuals and physical landmarks — that have played a role in its development.
East Camden has birthed innovations as disparate as the drive-in movie theater and the Tarantini panzarotti. It’s housed long-gone landmarks like the Arlo movie theater, the Camden & Amboy Railroad, and Dudley Grange Manor, all of which made the wall.
Elements from the Bush Refrigeration mural in East Camden. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
Rocco’s Steaks is still around, but the Oasis Motel, once featured in the film 12 Monkeys, was bulldozed by Gov. Christine Todd Whitman ahead of the 2000 Republican National Convention.
We Live Here shouted out the film in a reproduction of an exterior shot of the motel.
Their mural preserves the memories of cherished community leaders like Monsignor Robert “Father Bob” McDermott, whose efforts to rebuild his neighborhood parish resulted in the establishment of programs like St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society.
Or Rosa Ramirez, a grassroots activist who cofounded Camden Churches Organized for People, and moved the neighborhood into action with a bullhorn.
There’s Melvin Randolph “Randy” Primas, the first Black mayor of Camden City, elected in 1981, and 1983 Heisman Trophy winner Mike Rozier, who was honored with his own neighborhood monument earlier this year.
Oliver Truitt, whom Moulier called “a model block captain” was shouted out as much for his commitment to keeping Mickle Street clean as for his perfect attendance at Woodrow Wilson High School football games.
They’re all there alongside Connie Williams, who led the Eastside Civic Association to install a park in her neighborhood, and Rosie Figueroa, who counseled people into home ownership at SJCS.
We Live Here artists Priscilla Rios, Don T. Williams, and Breiner Garcia described the time and effort that went into the project as being commensurate with the significance of its subjects to the community.
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Rios said the mural is “capturing history,” with colors that symbolize the passion of its subjects and the vibrancy of their lives. Williams, who described himself as “diehard Camden,” spoke about the “team effort” it took to complete the work. Garcia said he’s been driven to create public art as a form of community connection.
“My family’s from Guatemala, but I want to know what it means to be from Camden,” he said.
St. Joseph’s Carpenter Society (SJCS), which historically has helped Camden City residents restore dilapidated properties to livable condition, oversaw the project.
From left: We Live Here mural artists Priscilla Rios, Don T. Williams, and Breiner Garcia. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
SJCS Executive Director Pilar Hogan Closkey said said the organization is broadening its neighborhood stabilization efforts to help East Camden residents develop jobs, housing, art, and community beautification.
SJCS Project Manager Felix Moulier said that seeing the mural through to completion left him feeling like he was “sleepwalking in a dream” from which he didn’t want to awaken.
“The purpose of this mural is to empower, instill pride, and effectuate change,” Moulier said.
“[It’s] more than paint on a wall,” he said. “It demonstrates the significance of Camden and the foundation built by those before us so we can stand here to appreciate their innovation, vision, and sacrifice.”
Moulier invoked civil rights leader Marcus Garvey in describing the social impact of the mural, saying, “a people without knowledge of their history, origin, and culture is like a tree without roots.”
Then, in a jab at the 2012 billboard campaign that urged residents to “Say Something Nice About Camden,” Moulier differentiated the mural project by describing it as “a constant reminder that there is greatness in Camden.
We Live Here artist collective created a mural on the Bush Refrigeration building in East Camden. Credit: Matt Skoufalos.
“Without Camden City, there is no Camden County — and better yet, there is no South Jersey,” Moulier said.
“Hopefully, this piece will uplift people and serve as a reminder that the sun may set over Philadelphia, but the sun rises over Camden first.”
Janel Winter, Director of Housing and Community Resources at the New Jersey Department of Community Affairs (DCA), spoke about the neighborhood revitalization tax credit (NRTC) that helped incentivize Bush Refrigeration to take on the project.
NRTC projects support residents in planning for the needs of their communities and find a pathway to include local sponsors to fund it, Winter said.
“Residents say, ‘This is what we need,’ and corporations get a tax credit,” Winter said. “At the core of the things, what residents really want is public art. We need this.”
Even with the promise of a tax incentive, however, siting the mural wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Moulier, who hopes its success will become “a catalyst for future projects,” said Bush Refrigeration was the fifth business approached to participate.
Its owner Alex Bush, who wasn’t present for the ceremony, nonetheless contributed $15,000 to the mural. Moulier described him as “an enthusiastic supporter of the project” who also resurfaced the building walls and added cameras to suppress vandalism as part of the effort.
“This history had to be projected; it had to be shared with the world,” Moulier said.
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