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Join us Thursday mornings at 8:20 for Minnesota Reads on Northland Morning, featuring Minnesota authors talking about their work. Funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund

MN Reads: "Art and Artifact" with Leesa Kelly

Cover of "Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising" by Leesa Kell and Howard Oransky; white and light blue art on a piece of plywood - rendering of George Floyd's face with "Say His Name" written alongside
Photo by Springboard for the Arts, Stencil by Seitu Jones

The 2024 book Art and Artifact: Murals from the Minneapolis Uprising by authors Leesa Kelly and Howard Oransky showcases beautiful work born from tragedy.

A collection of street art photographs created in the aftermath of the 2020 killing of George Floyd, the book looks to preserve the art that encapsulated the revolutionary time. It was this spirit that author Leesa Kelly wanted to keep alive.

"I started collecting murals in June of 2020 as they started to come down," said Kelly. "Towards the end of June, business owners, storefront owners began to take down their plywood and reopen their storefronts as the weather got warmer and that meant that murals were just disappearing overnight and that was a really scary thought for me and a lot of other people."

The physical works from the book will be archived and digitized later this year and made available to the public. The book is available online and at several retail booksellers.

Minnesota Reads is produced at The North 103.3 with funding provided in part by the Minnesota Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

Luke Moravec is the host for Northland Morning on The North 103.3. He’s also a local actor, musician and writer. He loves puzzles, riddles and fun mysteries.
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