“Drawn to Explain” is a mural painted on Craige Parking Deck by Amalia Pica in Chapel Hill, N.C. on Sunday, April 28, 2024. The mural once featured letters from the Cherokee alphabet, but has now been covered by a black arrow pointing left. | Photo by Jennifer Tran
Story by Savannah Gunter
TRT: 4:00
<<nat sound pop of parking deck>>
TRACK 1: Since September of 2023, UNC’s Craige Parking Deck has been decorated with international artist Amalia Pica’s mural called “Drawn to Explain.” The art features brightly-colored shapes which represent images used to explain complex scientific and artistic concepts. Some images portray the artistic “rule of thirds” grid, DNA repair, and even the “four corners” offense. Pica told Chapelboro in September that the paint and powder-coated aluminum represents the use of images as a learning language in Chapel Hill. But not all Chapel Hill residents see it that way. Cherokee student Colby Taylor says the project originally included the use of a Cherokee word.
Colby Taylor: “It was supposed to be “gadugi” which means together.
TRACK 2: Former Cherokee student Juanita Paz-Chalacha says when she first saw the mural on her walk to the bus, she was happy to see a word in the Cherokee language on campus.
Juanita Paz-Chalacha: “I was like, I know what that is. And then I felt comforting. And then I was getting into trying to figure out what was written on there. And it said, God do moo and I was like what what is that like … are they trying to say God do gee which is like it is a word that is very special to us but what was up there was God do mo.”
TRACK 3: Taylor says the mistake and its remedy were insulting.
Colby Taylor: “They misspelled the word on the parking garage and…they just painted a black arrow over top of it. It’s a big black arrow that doesn’t look like it belongs.”
TRACK 4: Paz-Chalacha says the black arrow is the result of a large email chain she started involving herself, UNC professors, the American Indian Center, the artists, and the Ackland. She says she learned the artist drew inspiration from several people on campus during a visit in 2019, but…
Juanita Paz-Chalacha: “The person who gave the clear to use the word was not Cherokee, and to be fair had studied alongside the language a little bit but not to the point where they would be allowed to use that word. They went ahead without any clearance from an actual Cherokee.”
TRACK 5: Paz-Chalacha makes it clear that Pica didn’t intentionally misspell “Gadugi.”
Juanita Paz-Chalacha: “That was just something some professor had given her to put on the mural for being for whatever the mural’s message was supposed to be. So she had no idea. She was just painting.”
TRACK 6: In response to a current email inquiry, Peter Nisbet of the Ackland said, “The Ackland only took over the project in the final few months, and [they] were not part of all the artist’s earlier discussions.” He said the artist ultimately decided that her finished work should not include a word in the Cherokee language.Taylor says both the misspelling and the erasure of the word from Craige Deck highlights a larger issue of Cherokee inclusion on campus.
Colby Taylor: “We’re in a bad place because it’s like, do we just leave the Cherokee symbols up to make sure that we’re not erased from campus? Or do we erase ourselves from campus because of how bad the spelling was?
TRACK 7: Paz-Chalacha says her email thread lasted multiple weeks but didn’t result in a collaborative solution. As a student writing an honors thesis at the time, she said she ran out of energy to contribute to the situation—especially when she felt like the only one taking a stand.
Juanita Paz-Chalacha: “The university has not taken any steps to really address it besides from the own indigenous faculty and students on campus and their efforts to change things. But it’s like pulling teeth from the university to try to get them to do something.”
Track 8: Taylor and Paz-Chalacha say the “Drawn to Explain” mistake could have been an opportunity for UNC’s campus to listen and learn from Cherokee voices, but instead it was, in their words, painted over and covered up. I’m Savannah Gunter reporting.
