David Smith
Jul 9, 2022
Painting his universal support and gratitude from the city he loves
Seven is a famous local muralist in the Chattanooga area. He has graced the area in beautiful murals that speak of past, present, and future within the region. Coming from humble beginnings, he stays humble and helps to teach his craft to the younger generation. Reading the different articles about Seven (aka Eric Finley), I see a common theme of love and hope for the people of his area. He hopes to spread joy and teach theme commonality. If I had the pleasure and honor of meeting Seven, I would ask him what his main inspiration is to keep loving all in this dark time of division.
This mural reminds me of the band "Fire From the Gods." They have a theme of a message being sent to people that brings help to renew and help heal the planet. Here I see a woman viewing a light that is bringing her to renewal and rebirth into a new world.
Music has a deep history in Chattanooga. However I see the harp being deeper in this than just music. Looking from the previous two weeks, remember the toga. What was the toga possibly trying to represent? I see possibly Seven reaching back in time to Greek and Roman philosophers to show the knowledge this strong black woman possesses. The flowers might represent her beauty, and the harp might be her strumming the tune of numerous possibilities.
Just as all the other areas in the United States, Chattanooga is not clean of pain caused onto the Native North Americans (First Nation also known as). Seven is honoring them and showing their pain for which has been inflicted upon them. The Chattanooga area is part of the area where the trail of tears was affected. In 1833 over 60,000 Native North Americans were forcibly displaced from the area and moved to the Oklahoma territory. More than half of them died along the way. To this date, The US government still has not publicly apologized or sought to amend for this discretion.
Honoring the history of music Chattanooga has, they were instrumental in the beginning of blues. Some of the early blues artist came from Chattanooga. Today they still have a strong and vibrant music scene. Rich is diversity and culture, one is able to hear a multi-diversity span of music in the city.