The Galax City Council, which first rejected a proposed mural that included some non-white musicians on the grounds that the people depicted didn’t represent the city, has now scrapped the project altogether.
The reason given is that the mural’s latest cost estimate was $35,000 — $15,000 more than the city had received in grant funding.
That may quiet the current controversy (key word there is “may”), but the whole flap highlights some of the tensions in our modern society. Among them:
Public art is often controversial
The problem with public art is that it’s, well, public. And public opinion often varies. Of course, the controversy here isn’t over brush strokes or realism vs. naturalism; it’s over who is being depicted and why. That is not new, either. When our nation’s most iconic public art, the Statue of Liberty, was unveiled in 1885, it was protested on multiple fronts: Suffragists thought it hypocritical to portray a woman when women weren’t allowed to vote; Black Americans thought it mockery when they were being oppressed through segregation; a Chinese-American writer called it an insult to suggest that immigrants were welcome when the United States was actively blocking Chinese immigrants from arriving and discriminating against the Americans of Chinese heritage it already had.
This controversy hasn’t helped Galax’s reputation
What seemed to some a joyful celebration of the musical heritage of Galax did not strike the same note with others, particularly council member Shane Coomes, who engaged in this exchange with the city’s tourism director, Patti Price-Love, at a council meeting:
Coomes: “So you think this represents Galax?” Coomes asked.
Price-Love: “I do.”
Coomes: “If you’re going to put a mural that large … there’s nothing on there about Fiddlers’ Convention, music center, Rex Theater, trains, New River Trail — you know, the people, the history, the music of Galax. To me that represents Galax zero, and I think we will hear about that if the public don’t know about it. … We’re known for music.”
Price-Love: “It’s musicians, so … ”
Coomes: “That’s not musicians our town is known for. It might be another place but not Galax, and I think that you’ll get some opposition from people when it comes public. That might be something for Floyd, Virginia, but not Galax. … That does not represent Galax whatsoever.”
If we take this literally, then the complaint was that the four figures in the proposed mural were generic and symbolic, not specific people from history.
However, this conversation quickly turned from that to race. Here’s how the council discussion unfolded:
Council member Sharon Ritchie: “Is it because there’s a Black person on there?”
Coomes: “You really want to go there?”
Ritchie: “Yeah, I really do. I mean, I don’t know what else it would be.”
Coomes: “If we’re going with people, we need to go with people who represent the music of Galax. That doesn’t do it. We disagree, OK?”
Let’s assume that Coomes simply wanted local musicians depicted. He told Cardinal News: “If we’re going to put up a mural, and put people in it, then it needs to be what has been here for 90 years. You know what I mean?” The problem is that some people don’t know what he means and simply assume that, by voting to reject the mural, the city is showing racist colors, whether that was the intent or not.
The operative adage here is that communication isn’t what is said; it’s what is heard. The question now is not what Coomes meant or whether that was right or wrong, but what Galax does to repair whatever damage has been done to its reputation.
The music born in Appalachia now has a worldwide following
A lot of the talk about the Galax mural has focused on the contribution that Black musicians have made to old-time and bluegrass music (which are two separate things, by the way). The banjo has African origins, for instance, and Coomes told Cardinal News he had gotten lots of emails pointing that out. “I’m like, I don’t question any of that, you know?” he said.
Let’s shift the focus. These musical styles were born in Appalachia with the collision of Scots-Irish culture with African instruments. There may not be a specific origin point, but Galax has certainly capitalized on those roots. Here’s what we often overlook: This music has now gone worldwide. It may not top the charts the way Taylor Swift does, but it does have an international presence.
The band Che Apalache, which formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, was nominated for a Grammy. There’s bluegrass in Japan. There’s bluegrass in Russia. There’s bluegrass in South Africa.
Maybe the figures on that now-canceled mural don’t represent Galax now — or the Galax of the past 90 years — but it just might represent the influence that Galax and Galax-adjacent communities have had around the world. Does that count for anything?
A venue with a Galax address regularly has a multicultural schedule
The Blue Ridge Music Center has a Galax mailing address, so it often gets identified that way, although it’s technically 10 miles away, just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Galax may not be able to legally claim the center, but patrons often consider the center as part of the overall Galax experience. If you’re going to a show at the Blue Ridge Music Center, and not traveling exclusively on the parkway, the odds are you’re going to spend some time — and money — in Galax for something.
More to our point here: The June 20 show included the Earl White Stringband, which Cardinal wrote about in this story. Coming up Aug. 1 is the Piedmont Blūz Acoustic Duo and From China To Appalachia, a trio that includes Chinese classical hammered dulcimer player Chao Tian.
Last year’s schedule began with Amethyst Kiah and later in the summer included Sierra Green, as well as the Lorena Guillen Tango Ensemble.
None of the musicians listed above are white.
Yes, the history of old-time music is overwhelmingly white, but not exclusively so. Nor is its present. Let’s put this another way: The center’s summer schedule of outdoor shows regularly includes musicians who look just like those on the mural Galax has scrapped.
There’s a mural available for somebody
If Galax doesn’t want this mural, maybe some other community in Southwest Virginia does. Galax may be internationally famous for its music heritage, but it’s not the only place around here with a musical history. We don’t know who the artist is, but somebody owns the rights to the concept. Some other community that wants a mural can get one now. Will any speak up? Or perhaps some city overseas will want the mural as a way to pay homage to a musical genre’s origin, even if the city that calls itself the “Old-Time Music Capital of the World” rejected it.
Want more political news and analysis? We have it every Friday in West of the Capital, our weekly political newsletter. This week we’ll take another look at early voting trends and an uptick of political action in the 5th Congressional District race.
