As part of a street beautification project, we are a group of artists creating a 4-part mural series in Bushwick. Under the direction of New York artist Camille Perrottet, we are celebrating the neighborhood’s unique sense of multiculturalism by showcasing Federico Garcia Lorca’s “Sleepless City” poem. Each mural includes a stanza from the poem as well as a feature of his face--his eyes, lips, or nose. The final mural in the series will feature his entire face.
Lorca lived in New York right after the Stock Market Crash in 1929. The resulting poverty and struggle he witnessed in this city influenced his poetry greatly during this time. "Sleepless City" was one of these poems and is filled with surrealistic images that speak to the ills that still exist today: slums, poverty, racism, and violence as well as the loneliness and alienation experienced by immigrants new to the city. Lorca also raged against the injustices inflicted on ordinary people by wealth and power. “Sleepless City” has beautiful universality in that it explores modernity and what it means to be human—to desire.