Mural in Cape Coral

This post is a bit late, but so are most of my social media posts. Who has time to keep up with it all.

About two years ago, I was contacted to do a mural for a Latin Restaurant in Cape Coral. The theme of the restaurant was to bring together the foods of all the Americas, North, Central and South. After brainstorming a few ideas, we came up with the idea of using the images of people who lived in Cape Coral who’s background  represented the foods of the restaurant. So we found people from Cuba, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Honduras and North America, who was German by descent.

The idea wasn’t to be “inclusive”, but diverse. Everyone seemed to love it, but the small criticism we received were things like “Oh yea, if its diverse, why are there no Chinese people?” Well, for one, the restaurant didn’t serve Chinese food. Secondly, we wanted to show diversity, not inclusiveness. A diverse group of people doesn’t necessarily include everyone. We weren’t trying to exclude anyone. We were simply trying to give a feel for the restaurant while showcasing some of the diversity of Cape Coral.

It was fun watching the “models” for the project come back and pose with their likeness. And it was also fun to develop a friendship with Yaz, the store owner. Its been a few years and we still remain good friends. That’s a great bonus for a project like this.

The story of the mural was picked up by a few local news stations. Here is a link to one:

https://www.nbc-2.com/story/32467257/cape-business-owner-uses-mural-to-spread-message-of-diversity