Changes being made to mural at 689 Snelling

To the community,

I want to let the community know that there were concerns brought to my attention in early September about the mural at 689 Snelling Ave., which is home to Kim’s Market and My-Ngoc Jewelry.

The mural, by Japanese artist Yuya Negishi, depicted (among other things) a sunrise, and was intended to signal a brighter future for all of us in the community. Unfortunately, it resembled the Rising Sun flag that was used by the Imperial Japanese military before and during WWII. As such, many people—both from Chinese and Korean backgrounds, but others as well—viewed the mural as a painful reminder of military incursions and atrocities, forced labor, foreign land occupation, and the destruction of foreign cultures at the hands of the Imperial Japanese military.

While Yuya was in no way making a political statement with his design—he is one of the kindest and open-minded people I know—and while we certainly did not recognize that the mural would bring anything but joy to the neighborhood and the businesses at that location, we quickly recognized that the mural could not remain in its original form.

Yuya and I met recently with the owner of Kim’s Market, as well as leaders from the Korean American Association of Minnesota and the Korean Heritage House, along with Kim Park Nelson, an American Multicultural Studies professor at Minnesota State University-Moorhead. We are now working diligently to change the background of the mural such that the symbolism of the Rising Sun flag no longer exists. We have already covered up the sun, and we are working on new designs for the sunray background.

We have already submitted one design idea with a checkered blue-and-yellow background that would replace the sun rays; this sketch has received the written approval from eight Board and Advisory Board members of the Korean American Association of Minnesota after a discussion they had about the new design with the Deputy Consul General of Korea on Sept. 18. We plan to submit at least one more sketch with a background that covers up the previous parts of the mural that were controversial, and we plan to have the redesigned mural completed as soon as possible, certainly before winter.

So much good has come out of this project, and I have no doubt that this, too, will be a positive outcome and will help us in working towards one of our main goals of bridging cultural divides. I hope that we can see it as an opportunity to have more conversations about the political, national, religious, and racial tensions that too often keep us divided. I hope it can help us reflect on history, both in the United States and abroad, and how we can create stronger bonds and seek reconciliation and unity moving forward in a situation like this one. And as the leader of this project I will certainly learn from this experience and what I could’ve done better to avoid anything like this happening again.

I’m sorry that this misunderstanding happened, that people were hurt, and that we didn’t recognize sooner how this mural would be perceived. I look forward to making it right, ensuring that Kim’s Market’s devoted customers can come to shop and can fully enjoy the beauty of Yuya’s artwork.

—Jonathan Oppenheimer

Project Manager, Midway Murals

Photo below: With scaffolding in place, Yuya Negisha and assistants are working on changes to the Midway Mural Project at 689 Snelling Ave. As of the last week in September, the rising sun has been removed, and the rays of the sun are being replaced with a grid pattern that will transition to blue skies overhead. (Photo by Margie O’Loughlin)