Wagner Houses
Nudge Art Mural

Located at Wagner Houses in Harlem, New York City

Created by:
Harlem-based Artist Kristy McCarthy & Wagner Houses Youth

For this Nudge Art mural, our Wagner Houses youth gravitated towards the values of equity, justice, peace, and respect. During the genEquality activations workshops, they began brainstorming around the idea of waves as a way of spreading change, sharing values, and reaching others.

On the right side, the mural invites the viewer to stand in front of its interactive element - the microphone - with the words “You Belong” and a spotlight. The words within the waves - peace, respect, justice, equity - almost appear as though they are sound waves emanating from the microphone towards the audience in the mural. The audience is designed to be representative and inclusive of people of all races, genders, and identities.

Wagner youth were intentional about the colors that they selected for this mural; in color theory sessions, they decided they wanted to convey calm and inspire the viewer with soft variations of green, blue, and purple. Purple was selected as the most prominent color because it is a combination of two stereotypically-gendered colors: blue and pink/red.

The mural is bordered with blue roses and yellow daffodils as an homage to our Wagner youth group’s favorite flowers. This mural was co-designed by Wagner youth after consultations with members of the Wagner Houses community, and beautifies the Wagner Houses common space area.

~1 Minute Mural Creation Video + Behind-the-Scenes Photos

Resources

Interested in learning more about what you can do to advance gender equality daily?

Check out the 10 genEquality Activations to learn about how you can advocate for and make change through your daily beliefs and behaviors. We share 10 core beliefs and behaviors that you can practice; they touch on social cues and cultural norms, daily communications (language and humor), and economic equality behaviors, choices, and values.

If you want to learn how to be a better bystander, check out these free resources from our friends at Righttobe!:

If you are experiencing, or have experienced, domestic and gender-based violence - help is always available to you.

  • You can access information and resources to help anyone experiencing dating, domestic, gender-based, or family violence, including elder abuse, by visiting www.nyc.gov/NYCHOPE, or by calling the NYC 24/7 confidential Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-621-HOPE (1-800-621-4673) or TTY 1-866-604-5350.  

  • The Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) Training Team provides engaging, interactive training and technical assistance to support service providers in effectively identifying and responding to clients experiencing domestic and gender-based violence. ENDGBV tailors its trainings to meet organizational/agency staff needs. Read more about the Training Team.

  • The Healthy Relationship Training Academy provides violence prevention workshops for young people ages 13-24 and staff who work with young people. Please read these FAQs and then request the appropriate Academy workshop(s).

  • If you are sexually harassed or discriminated against based on a protected category under the Human Rights Law in New York City, please report this to the NYC Commission on Human Rights. Call (212) 416-0197 or fill out an online inquiry form.

  • The Commission on Human Rights offers a youth leadership development program to identify human rights issues in their communities, develop solutions, and build their leadership skills.