Midtown, Kingston, Ulster County

This side section of a larger mural was created by artists Mata Ruda, Nanook and Lunar New Year in 2015 as part of the 6th annual O+ festival in Kingston. According the artist’s (Nanook) website, this section of the mural depicts “an Inca Inti gold piece over #coal and #marble, which were natural resources mined from the area to build cities and capitals. Traditional medicine, modern technology, wellness and health divided by years of solitude.”

The front section of the mural is the large scale, incredibly vibrant art piece titled Anos de Soledad. According the artist’s (Nanook) website, this front section of the mural is “a portrait of Nina Gualinga, the environmental & indigenous rights activist and Hija del Primer Levantamiento - from a photograph taken by Marc Silver during his documentation of traditional ayahuasca medicine in the Ecuadorian Amazon. It also depicts images of migration, local Kingston natural landscapes . . .”

The O+ festival is a 3-day event where artists and musicians exchange their participation for basic health care, dental and wellness services. Billed as “The Art of Medicine for the Medicine of Art”, the growing Kingston event featured many forms of art media including paint, sculpture, dance, performance art and music.