Sunny Dayz Mural Festival
Sept. 9, 2023
Pearl District
“You know when you’re an Okie and you’re trans and you think, What if we just move somewhere else? And then you think: Nah, we’re gonna stay.”
That’s how Bronco Henryetta, one of the best new bands on the Tulsa scene (listen for “trans femme hyper-country-fried bangers and sludge”), introduced the final song of their set at Sunny Dayz Mural Festival, to massive cheers from the crowd.
To be honest, “We’re gonna stay” could have been the theme of the event. Launched in Oklahoma City in 2021 to empower women and non-binary mural artists of all ages and advocate for greater equity and inclusion in the public art space, this annual festival came to Tulsa for the first time last weekend, with an impact as vibrant as the colors on the walls.
In a pocket of industrial blocks within the Pearl District, nearly 40 local and regional artists, 12 musical acts led by women, dozens of vendors, and food trucks galore — evidence of a truly immense coordination effort — gathered to transform a forgotten space into something coursing with life. In the world of public art, women and non-binary artists themselves have long been overlooked; the Sunny Dayz website gives a rundown of the many ways these artists continue to work at huge disadvantages. The scene in the Pearl District was like something from another, better world — one in which, going by the huge and happy turnout, many of us would be pretty thrilled to live.
With about a week on site to prepare their walls (in many cases, giant-sized), the artists turned these neglected corridors south of 3rd Street and east of Peoria into avenues of discovery using bold color, mind-bending experiments in pattern and texture, and wild imagination.
Scenes from the natural world — like “Fluidity of Nature” by Trudy Tran and Krysta Quinn Art, “Feels Like Magic” by Bruna Petalla and Madison Roy, and “Oklahoma Hills” by Emma Difani and Faye Miller — pulled me into their light on that literal sunny day with an almost psychedelic shimmer.