O+ Mural Program
Since 2010 O+ (pronounced Oh Positive) has been working to provide artists with opportunities to create large-scale public works in exchange for healthcare through its mural program. We believe that art is medicine, and that encountering art in public spaces provides equitable access to the arts that brings joy, conversation, and critical engagement.
Public artists provide our communities with broad, inclusive and positive representation of the human experience while producing chance encounters with the transformative, healing power of art in our everyday lives. They tell stories from diverse perspectives while challenging oppressive power structures and expanding our perceptions of who is historically permitted to occupy space, to be seen and to be celebrated.
The O+ Mural Program prioritizes the expression of women, BIPOC, nonbinary, trans and queer folk and is committed to the continued expansion of representation, especially from a first person perspective, made possible through public art. O+ is proud to have provided myriad artists with their first wall and to have helped foster growth in their practice and careers. O+ mural artists receive health and wellness care, including primary care, integrative medicine and massage therapy in our Artists’ Clinic, as well as in-office dentistry and optometry. This exchange of “the art of medicine for the medicine of art” at the center of O+’s mission empowers community members to take control of their collective wellbeing.
KINGSTON, NY MURALS
Every October artists from both near and far paint murals (55 as of October 2022) throughout Kingston in response to a theme set by the festival art committee. Many of the works reflect the rich history, culture and diversity of Kingston and its residents. Others bring to light universal themes through the stories of people beyond our city’s borders. All act as a catalyst to deeper understanding of the world through representation, narrative and inclusivity.
