An hour north of New York City in the wealthiest county of the state, a new mural program extends the reach of organizers Audrey and Thibault Decker of Street Art for Mankind. They say that they have produced murals and exhibitions in Larchmont, Mamaroneck, and Midtown with the support of more than 50 international Street Artists in the last few years – all with the goal of raising awareness and funds to stop child trafficking worldwide.

The New Rochelle murals that went up this fall and were debuted in November through and organized art walk and other events appear to be more loosely correlated with local pride and history, such as the one by artist Loic Ercolessi featuring local-born musician Don Mclean (“American Pie) and Manhattan-born musician Alicia Keyes (“Empire State of Mind”).

An inspiring walk through the city’s downtown neighborhood on a grey and brisk fall day to discover these new murals was warmed by sharing the experience with photographer Martha Cooper, who took the train up from the city with BSA co-founder Jaime Rojo to catch the new works. The program here is called “NRNY Artsy Murals” and a highlight from this day was taking a cherry lift with Ukrainian Street Artist AEC to get a closer look at him while he worked on his new mural of allegorical surrealism.

The quality is obviously high and the program eclectic, including artists such as DanK (GBR), Elle (USA & AUS), JDL (NLD), Loic Ercolessi (USA & FRA), Lula Goce (SPA), Mr Cenz (GBR) and Victor Ash (DEN, FRAand POR). Ash left the city with a new floating astronaut high above the Earth, which may describe some of the uplifting feelings passersby may experience here in New Rochelle.

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