Eastside Love Letters

Eastside Love Letters was birthed from one conversation I had in the summer of 2025. An excited observer stopped by my mural at the corner of E Warren and French Rd in Detroit and said, “This is so dope. Man we need more of this on the Eastside. They only put murals Downtown.” From that conversation I started brainstorming how I could provide a solution to this problem

I am not shy to tell people I am not from Detroit. I was raised in Lansing, MI. However, I have spent a handful of years in Detroit and it really is a special place.

to the Eastside,

with love.

You can feel it in the dirt. in the air.

In 2024, my partner and I were looking for a home around Detroit and everyone turned up their nose about the Eastside. I won’t lie, initially it did feel far from everything. But, ya girl don’t got no business in Dearborn, so I’m close to everywhere I WANT to be. Since moving to the Eastside we’ve been embraced by nothing but warmth, creativity, and an undying hope. Some people say the Eastside has been forgotten, left out of the conversation, but I think the Eastside has been untouched. It’s pure, full of life long residents, and neighbors who are willing to take care of each other. They party together. Garden together.

Even though I’m not a life long Eastsider I wanted to show this community how much I appreciate calling this place home. So in my own way, I am writing love letters to the residents.

The murals are essentially positive affirmations “planted” along East Warren. The affirmations were created during Listening Sessions we hosted within the 5 neighborhoods in March. I invited members of the community to join us to share their experiences, what makes each area special, and ultimately to find out what sort of message THEY would want to hear to be reminded to keep going. I wrote in to my proposal a raffle of $50 gift cards at the sessions so we could thank attendees for their time.

And now we are officially in the painting phase of these pieces. Everything up to this point has only left me more in love with the area. I’m beyond grateful to City Walls Detroit, my fiduciary sponsor, for seeing value in this idea. I’m praying that these murals not only bring more beauty to the area, but provide a sense of hope on the days that feel a bit harder.