UNTAPPED CITIES

In the Face of Demolition, The Boone Room Celebrates and Preserves Boone Avenue’s Graffiti Murals

By: Christopher Inoa

No matter how much it annoys our current Chief of Police, graffiti is ingrained in NYC’s fabric. In the decades since it was common to see fresh murals painted on the sides of many of the city’s trains, neighborhoods have gone from wanting graffiti wiped from NYC’s identity, to using it as a tool to give their communities new life. Through The Boone Room project at Fannie Lou Hamer Freedom High School in the Bronx, the controversial art form is being used to help retain the neighborhood’s identity and history, despite the upcoming demolition of an important graffiti haven on nearby Boone Avenue.