Cleaver Cunningham
Cleaver Cunningham is a popular street artist who is known for creating memorial wall portraits of local residents from working-class communities, Jamaican icons and “Dons” - a colloquial term for politically connected community leaders who are often involved in criminal activities. In Jamaica, Don portraiture became a popular public art practice by the end of the 20th century. The images iconized these community leaders as local heroes. Cleaver's portraits are often rendered using an airbrush technique and include objects to emphasise the status or aspirations of his subjects. After the Tivoli Incursion, the state made an enormous effort to re-paint the walls with such portraits in order to diminish the importance of Dons.
This mural portrays Ananda Dean, a young girl who was brutally raped and murdered. Her murder sent shockwaves through the country . In 2018, the government agency responsible for childcare sponsored the creation of a new mural in her honour. Her mural is emblematic of a nationwide outcry against violence, and her name was used for the public notification for missing children, called the Ananda Alert.
