Fishtown resident commissions Chief Tamanend mural to send message of ‘peace’
Don Allen, a Fishtown resident, watched dozens of men roam parts of the neighborhood with weapons in June after the city saw demonstrations following the death of George Floyd. The men clashed with residents and assaulted at least two people.
“It just seemed to be getting really out of hand with everything, the emotional climate seemed to be rising higher and keeps getting hotter and hotter,” he said. “And it just really got to a point to me where it just really upset me to the point where I was like, ‘Something needs to be done.’ I don’t know what can be done. Obviously, bigger things need to be done to correct all these injustices and inequalities in the world.”
Allen asked himself, “What can I do? What I specifically do in this moment that doesn’t need any approval…just something that I can do and, you know, make a statement?”
Now when you walk by his property at Girard Avenue and Berks Street, you’ll see a 20-foot mural of Chief Tamanend, the chief of the Turtle Clan of the Lenni-Lenape nation.
Allen commissioned the mural over the summer. It features Chief Tamanend, along with a turtle and a fish to represent Fishtown’s history and the neighborhood today. Chief Tamanend signed a peace treaty with William Penn at the Shackamaxon, which is now Penn Treaty Park, in 1682, according to Hidden City.
The mural also includes a part of a quote from Chief Tamanend — “Live in peace as long as waters run in creeks.”
Allen felt this mural needed to be rooted in the history of the land, and that he wanted more people to know more about Chief Tamanend.
“We should know more about Tamenend,” Allen said. “There’s just so much about him that I think we’ve forgotten about over time.”
Allen worked with V.U.R.T. Creative, a Fishtown-based nonprofit that supports local artists and creates murals through the city, and was connected with Leon Rainbow, a muralist from Trenton, New Jersey.
Rainbow began working on the mural in June and completed the project in September, Allen said. You can view the mural and more of Rainbow’s work here.
Allen will dedicate the mural to his longtime partner Bill Heine, who died days before the mural was completed, on Saturday, which is Heine’s birthday.
Allen described Heine as a kind and charitable person. “He was that kind of guy where he was always looking out for other people.”
Allen is selling prints and decals that feature one of Heine’s tattoos and the quote from Chief Tamanend that appears on the mural. Allen will donate all of the proceeds to charitable organizations in Heine’s name.
“It’s a little selfish in the sense that I also, hopefully, will get to see a bunch of his tattoos around the neighborhood on people’s cars and be reminded he’s still here,” Allen said.
The dedication is at 12 p.m. and will be outdoors and socially distanced. Masks will be required. Allen will sell the prints and decals on Saturday.
Learn more about the event here.
“The main thing I’m trying to stress is just a message about how we can all share this land, work together and live in peace,” Allen said. “We can share this small plot of land, live side by side and all work together.”