What it Takes to Make a Mural – Harlan Thompson
PrEP4Teens is about sharing health information via art and culture. This could have taken a lot of shapes—we could have made films, written books, or thrown PrEP theme parties. Hell, we could have even created PrEP4Teens: The Musical! (Don’t count that last one out just yet. Maybe in 2050). Instead, we created murals. Why?
Murals are a visually striking, publicly available, and, in most cases, universal form of artwork that will draw eyes anywhere. Murals start conversations, fill spaces, and bring people together. In the case of the PrEP4Teens murals, folks from so many different walks of life are united—from teens to researchers to youth leaders to community artists to… well, you get it. And, most importantly, the young people guiding this campaign said, “you should incorporate murals!” Enough said!
In the case of our two most recent mural installations (hosted at Lurie Children’s Hospital and The Village in Hyde Park, respectively), we worked with Harlan Thompson, a tattoo artist and muralist from Chicago. Even though so many folks gave input on the murals, prioritizing the feedback from teens of course, Harlan made the process seem effortless.
Muralist Harlan Thompson meeting with the PrEP4Teens team. Photo taken by Jim Carey on July 18th, 2023.
The process started several years ago when the PrEP4Teens team recruited youth from the LGBTQ+ community to develop a creative brief. Working with advocate and icon, Elijah McKinnon, these teens created a series of artwork, taglines, scripts, and other fun stuff that PrEP4Teens continues to use to inform every aspect of the project.
So, Harlan started with those ideas. Then, we threw in a few more tasty ideas, plus some input from various advisors, and then we had to work on the location for Harlan to even begin to think about what the mural could look like… Yeah, it got pretty busy.
“The space the mural will live influences my decisions greatly. How far away will people be viewing it from? Across the street or a couple feet away?” Harlan said. “Furniture and architecture help determine where elements will land in a mural are all important to me.”
Muralist Thompson showing off an early mural draft. Photo taken by Jim Carey on July 18th, 2023.
So, figuring out what kinds of locations we’d host the murals at was pretty important. Once we got that settled (these two most recent murals would go up in the 3rd floor lobby of the adolescent health center at the Potocsnak Family Division of Lurie Children’s hospital and in the drop-in space at The Village in Hyde Park) it was time to get started.
Harlan explains he “[drew] a lot of inspiration from Japanese prints, tattoos, and skateboard art,” and to anyone who’s seen the murals, it’s clear he baked this love into the creation process. The beautiful landscape creates a world to explore, just like the tagline suggests.
As he worked, he tried “to evoke a mood and environment that draws the viewer in, using graphic shapes and colors, that mimic the natural world.” And he did it! From his first draft, it was time to get feedback from teens.
Throughout the process, Harlan prioritized “meeting and listening to the ideas of the youth,” which in turn helped him “put some parameters on a project and edit [his] ideas.” Taking the youth feedback, Harlan remade the landscapes, adjusted the palettes, and put in taglines. Finally, both were ready to put up.
“A handful of murals and projects have come my way, and they all have unique challenges and considerations. I feel like I learn something new with each one,” he said. We can’t wait to see what we can build with Harlan next, because he took every challenge we threw at him with style.
Click here to explore your options regarding PrEP, just like the mural says.