Downtown digital services firm Fearless has commissioned murals as part of its office expansion at Spark Baltimore that are designed to serve as a reminder of their dedication to the community of Baltimore.
Jeff “Jahru” Huntington, cofounder of arts nonprofit Future History Now, and Fearless UX/UI Designer Jesse James designed and painted the series of murals together. The murals go from the main hall to the new large conference room as part of the agency’s expansion in Spark Baltimore, the Inner Harbor coworking space where it maintains its headquarters.
The slogan of Fearless is “Software with a Soul.” The artists wanted to bring this concept to life mural on the walls.
“We as people have the effect with not only software but with our own actions — in kind of a Heartshare is what I called it,” said James.
The mural is meant to be a constant reminder of the power of youth and people can have on the community around them.
Check out a timelapse of the mural’s creation, via Fearless:
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uRMiAEfiVI]
“You walk past, and you see young Black kids on the wall represented through technology,” said Fearless CEO Delali Dzirasa. “It’s a reminder to us to continue to help bridge that divide that often exists in these underrepresented groups.”
The digital divide he’s referring to isn’t just the numbers about access to internet and home computers, but access to job opportunities and employment in the tech industry. Household names of tech Microsoft and Google found that the number of Black and Latinx technical employees rose by less than a percentage point at both companies since 2014, when they started releasing diversity reports, according to Wired.
“Imagine a kid looking up and seeing someone in this tech space that looks like them, that feels like them,” said Dzirasa. “They immediately will become connected to this concept of, ‘Maybe I can do this. Maybe this is the space that would welcome me.’”
Donte Kirby is a 2020-2022 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Robert W. Deutsch Foundation.
This editorial article is a part of Workplace Culture Month of Technical.ly's editorial calendar.
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