ARTIST: FATOU KANE

As a St. Louis native and recent graduate, Fatou has spent several years working with local community partners in education and the arts, focusing on murals, design, and research projects. In her professional work, she has navigated partnerships in the non-profit sector to promote educational achievement in vulnerable communities in St. Louis and across the country.

Fatou has led several community-driven arts projects. In 2021, she completed a mural on Cherokee Street, where she grew up, in collaboration with Bridge Bread Bakery and the Cherokee Street Arts Commission. Together, they developed a design featuring a floral arrangement overlooking the community garden. From 2022 to 2023, Fatou partnered with St. Louis Public Schools and the Treasurer’s Office to create a student-led school beautification project at Carr Lane Visual & Performing Arts Middle School (CLVPA). She facilitated three interactive workshops with about 60 students to design a new mural. On execution day, Fatou coordinated around 20 students and staff to paint the 16′ x 8′ mural, which she had outlined the day before. This project allowed her to make art and place-making accessible to youth and community members, creating a lasting installation in their neighborhood.

Fatou is continually seeking ways to better serve her community. This upcoming mural project would enable her to further her lifelong commitment to service, education, and the arts through community beautification.

This mural is in celebration of Dr. George Washington Carver, the renowned black agricultural scientist, humanist, and artist. More than just “the peanut man”, Dr. Carver dedicated his life to the well being of his people, writing, “It has always been one idea of my life to be the greatest good to the greatest number of my people as possible.” His work is a testament to this philosophy. In his lifetime he worked to provide black farmers in the south with practical knowledge to improve their quality of life and farming conditions in land depleted from cotton planting.

Dr. Carver is represented in shades of blue and white, an homage to his affiliation with the Phi Beta Sigma fraternity; the background is a pattern derived using motifs symbolic of this life and contribution such as flowers, peanuts, tomatoes, and representative of his deep spiritually and appreciate for life. The George Washington House, stewarded by the devoted Phi Beta Sigma brother of the Sigma Legacy Foundation, stands as a testament to his enduring impact and the spirit of service that defines his legacy.

Dr. Carver’s legacy is a beacon reminding us of our collective responsibility to serve our communities, which is increasingly necessary in our city of St. Louis today.