Courtesy of SWBID
By Southwester Staff
One of the newest MuralsDC artworks is located in Southwest, in partnership with JBG Smith, the Department of Public Works, DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and the SWBID.
Artist Ally Grimm, aka A.L. Grime, brought a larger-than-life mural to L’Enfant Plaza at the corner of D Street SW, and the 9th Street Expressway. The mural features two women pioneers in the field of STEM research.
With NASA’s headquarters nearby in Southwest, Grimm paid homage to Nicole Stott, a NASA engineer, astronaut, artist, and mother. Stott, like Grimm, also blurs the lines of science and art. Now retired, she has dedicated herself to advocacy and collaboration between the arts and STEM to find creative solutions to environmental and social issues. Stott completed two spaceflights and 104 days living and working in space as a crew member.
In the same vein as combining STEM and art, Grimm also celebrated Joy Buolamwini, the Algorithm Justice League founder. Buolamwini’s work in tech led to the discovery of racial bias in facial recognition software and was recently highlighted in the Netflix documentary, “Coded Bias.” Her groundbreaking work advocates for an empathy-forward approach to tech and explores the next frontier in artificial intelligence ethics.
Grimm is a Venezuelan-American artist, muralist, and graphic designer originally from DC. Mixing science and art, her work “combines the rise of the technological era through the lens of the human experience through bold, emotion-driven patterns,” according to Grimm’s website.
Stay tuned for an augmented reality experience coming to the mural soon via QR code.