Educational Media Reviews Online

A New Color follows muralist Edythe (Edy) Boone from her start in Harlem to the many communities in the Bay Area that have been touched by her work. Though her personal work is examined through the background into her life, a peer critique, and an art exhibit, three main storylines take place throughout the film as director Marlene “Mo” Morris follows Edy in her daily life.

First, advised by Edy, elders in Richmond, CA work together on the Seniors Mural Project to create a work centered on the issues they have faced, from eviction to burying their children and grandchildren. Similarly, West Oakland Middle School students work together in an after school youth mural project to create “A Garden Grows in Oakland.” Finally, growing off their 1994 “MaestraPiece” mural on the Women’s Building in San Francisco, Edy and 6 other female artists work to restore the mural and usher in a younger generation of female muralists.

Layered throughout A New Color is the reality of violence, specifically police violence, hitting communities of color. The subjects of the documentary work through their anger, sadness, and fear with artwork as tragic events unfold in their communities as Eric Garner, Edy’s nephew, is choked to death by a police office in New York City and middle school children in the Bay Area are forced to grapple with a fellow student being shot ten times.

A New Color might be suited for art, art therapy, or education courses. Edy’s patience and kindness to the aspiring artists she helps, young and old, is an example to shine a light on. The film also offers a different lens into the Black Lives Matter movement and forms of protest through artwork; it could be aptly suited for political science or sociology courses discussing the Black Lives Matter movement or protest methodologies. It may be best suited for art libraries or libraries with an art collection focus.