Last month, Watertown saw an addition to its growing collection of street art through the opening of a new mural created by artists Amir Tabatabaei and Niloufar Keyhani. Located on the wall of Watertown Square’s CVS, the new mural, titled “I See a Dream”, opened to a crowd of nearly 100 onlookers on September 19, 2023. The original wall is in an area of Watertown known as Merchant’s Row, and contains more than 1000 square feet of space that was largely run down and in need of repairs.
Based on reporting by Charlie Breitrose for the Watertown News on July 26, 2023, Tabatabaei and Keyhani’s project was supported by not only a $3,200 grant from the Watertown Community Foundation, but also an overwhelming amount of support from the community via a GoFundMe campaign this summer. Started by Watertown residents Elodia Thomas and Bruce Coltin, the campaign raised more than $8000 from 150 donors for the development of the mural. According to the GoFundMe page, the mural was painted over the course of 60 days, often in the oppressive heat of summer, leading to the artists working around 8 to 10 hours in a day.
Over the course of the mural’s development, the artists often spent their own funds to aid in the purchase of supplies, as much funding went into machinery used to allow them to reach the top of the wall housing the mural. Additionally, the funding was meant to allow for the mural to last long after its opening and will support the mural’s upkeep against weather conditions, wear-and-tear, as well as vandalism.
The mural’s name and overarching theme is largely inspired by Tabatabaei’s and Keyhani’s backgrounds as immigrants from Iran. Having found a home in Watertown, the mural represents how the artists view their newfound community in America – as a utopia. Having previously worked on public art projects in Iran, Tabatabaei and Keyhani sought to honor the community they have found and grown to be a part of using this mural.
Watertown has long been a home for a significant immigrant population in the greater Boston area. Looking at the demographics as gathered by the US Census Bureau, 23.2% of the Watertown population was foreign-born in 2020, which is significantly higher than the U.S. population average that is 13.5% foreign-born. Having a sizable Asian immigrant population, many residents in Watertown relate to Tabatabaei’s and Keyhani’s experience in discovering and building a strong sense of community within their newfound home in America as immigrants.
Throughout their new mural, a repeating theme of a highly unified and peaceful world becomes apparent. In Amir’s own words, he sought to emulate how he “deems crucial [the] cultivat[ion of] collective wisdom and consciousness to bring about a better world for all”. Beyond a piece of artwork, it is clear that the artists strive to perpetuate this ideal for a better world for years to come through this mural, providing an idealistic vision for the potential that Watertown has to become a utopia for incoming immigrants to the Watertown community.
In the mural itself, one can see a spaceship prominently featured in white against a gray backdrop for the city skyline. The spaceship overlooks the city below and is highly stylized with several intricate details which stand out starkly against the other colors featured in the work. The artists have used this imagery to emulate the idea of progress. Through the depiction of great technological progress, the artists are able to illustrate the strive towards the utopia pictured in the mural.
Additionally, the mural prominently features several birds. Tabatabaei has stated that these birds are a reference to how birds often symbolize love as an artistic motif in Iranian culture. Within the context of the Watertown mural, Tabatabaei states that “one of [the birds] is a phoenix — the phoenix represents perpetual renewal, just as the utopian dream is constantly born anew in each consecutive generation”. The artists seem to be portraying the generational dream that immigration brings to families coming to America as the country where opportunities and dreams can flourish.
The architecture of the city skyline featured in the mural draws from both western and eastern artistic and architectural motifs. The buildings are suspended in space and connected to each other through a system of connecting bridges. The artists have stated as part of their artistic statement on the piece that these bridges symbolize the interconnectedness and sense of culture they feel within their community at Watertown, as well as the communication that would be necessary within the utopia they would like to depict.
The mural, having replaced previous art that had been in disrepair for decades that was previously occupying the wall, does much work to revitalize the building it is on as well as the nearby area. The project of developing this mural was supported by Watertown’s Public Arts and Culture Planner, Liz Helfer, who assisted in securing the space the mural occupies as well as the private funding which supported the project’s development. The space is currently working to be developed into a public space for gatherings as lighting and a bench are working towards being installed near the mural itself.
Given the positive messages, sense of community, and beauty that public art projects can bring to a space, Amir Tabatabaei and Niloufar Keyhani’s work raises questions about whether cities should work towards funding similar projects in order to increase their prevalence in communities across the country. While Tabatabaei and Keyhani’s work was lucky enough to get community support and access to the necessary funds to be developed, there are likely many similar projects that never get developed due to a lack of resources. Seeing the significant resources and costs that largely go unrecouped as a result of developing murals and other public displays of art, it may be beneficial to the development of community culture for cities to develop sources of funding for artists to display their work around the area.
