Aretha Franklin's death left an indelible sense of loss in fans and peers of the iconic musician across the world. Her hometown of Detroit, Michigan has been the location for a number of tributes, including a museum exhibit at the Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History. A mural painted as an homage to Aretha was regrettably vandalized this past Satrday.
The mural was made by Richard Wilson, a London based artist. Located on a Detroit city wall, the artwork was damaged overnight by paint that was left in a cherry picker. Wilson told the Detroit Free Press, “I finished it yesterday evening … all happy….I came back this morning just to tidy up a bit, check if there’s anything I missed or anything." Upon returning to the location of the mural, Wilson discovered that it had been sabotaged. “It’s like they had a paint party here, and it’s just splattered all over the place,” he said.
Aleanna Siacon of the Detriot Free Press tweeted a video of Wilson cleaning up the mural captioning the post, "Richard Wilson, a London-based artist in Detroit for #MuralsInTheMarket, is fixing up his mural featuring Aretha Franklin and other famous Detroit records after it was splattered by paint left in a cherry picker and inadvertently vandalized overnight." Despite the damage to the mural, Wilson was able to restore the artwork by September 30th.
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