Murals with architectural aspects

Title: Murals with architectural aspects
Description: This itemset features student murals from Texas Southern University's Hannah Hall that incorporate aspects of the building's architecture into their designs. The Hannah Hall murals are a collection of more than 80 student murals painted on the walls of Texas Southern University's second-oldest building. Ranging in time from 1951 to 2013, the murals cover a wide variety of subjects, including the Civil Rights Movement, Black power, religion, rural life in Texas, fantasy, and more. The mural program was created by Dr. John T. Biggers, founder of Texas Southern's art department. Dr. Biggers instructed his students to choose their mural placements with the building's architecture in mind, as it was important to him that they not metaphorically "cut a hole in the wall with the painting."
Curated By: Ben Schachter
Contributing Institution: Texas Southern University
Identifier: HCAC.TSU.IS.025
Rights: All rights held by the University Museum at Texas Southern. For permission to publish, distribute, or use this image for any other purpose, please contact University Museum, Texas Southern University umuseum@gmail.com Attn: Museum Director. Materials not created by Texas Southern University may still be under copyright. Additional materials may be presented for educational and research purposes in accordance with fair use under United States copyright law.
About This Record: The HCAC public history focused digital archive cataloging is an ongoing process, and we may update this record as we conduct additional research and review. We welcome your comments and feedback if you have more information to share about an item featured on the site, please contact us at: HCAC-DigiTeam@si.edu

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Men and Women on the Farm
Ross’s mural represents Black rural life in the early to mid twentieth century. The composition highlights the gendered division of labor, and how women’s work focuses on maintaining the home. Ross grew up in Huntsville, Texas, and this scene may represent his background and experiences.
Cyclops Camera Crew
Jones’ surrealistic mural depicts bald, cyclops-like men conducting a television broadcast. Jones incorporated architecture into the design by using a window, since painted over, as the camera’s lens. A man beneath the camera carries a torch with a strong, flowing flame.
Cold War Chaos
Portraying the brutality of war in the mid-twentieth century, McCowan, a veteran, integrates the wall’s architectural elements (a fire hose and extinguisher) to highlight the tension of the scene. The mushroom cloud above the fire hose highlights Cold War-era anxieties.
Church Choir
A full church choir sings passionately. Hatter chose this location to make use of the rectangular shape of the doorway, suggesting the arrangement of a choir standing on risers. The exit sign, which was previously embedded on the wall, cast rays of light across the choir members’ faces.
Beauty Shop and Police Brutality
The right section reflects the tenet of “policing the police.” The officers’ stance is eerily similar to Derek Chauvin’s murder of George Floyd and the fire extinguisher underscores the scene’s violence. The left speaks to racialized beauty standards and “Black is Beautiful” messaging of the 1960s and 70s.