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Addie Boswell’s Boise mural still inspires after turning hate into art four years ago
Four years on, artist Addie Boswell’s Boise mural, painted by 100 volunteers after antisemitic graffiti, still inspires the community and anchors a growing human rights campus.
By Matthew Kincanon | FāVS News Reporter
BOISE, Idaho – It has been four years since the mural of “E Pluribus Unum,” Latin for “Out of many, one,” was completed by artist Addie Boswell in response to racist and antisemitic graffiti tagged in an overpass tunnel near the Idaho Anne Frank Human Rights Memorial. Today, the mural continues to inspire the community and has grown into something bigger.
When it came to the question of how to respond to hate, Boswell cited a lyric from the musical “Rent,” where the opposite of war isn’t peace, it’s creation. She drafted three designs of the mural, finding difficulty in trying to present huge ideas of diversity and tolerance in images and simplifying them. However, it got easier once she received input from the city’s arts and history department committee.
“Addie was an incredibly empathetic and caring artist to work with — the best person for this job,” said Lianna Hamby, public art project coordinator at the Boise City Department of Arts & History. “Not only did she immerse herself in Boise, but she also brought a fresh perspective to a difficult situation, highlighting what makes Boise special when things feel dark and challenging. She also has a unique ability to empower others to contribute and feel confident in their artistic contributions.”
Whole community participated
After completing the mural, located on Boise’s River Greenbelt, Boswell felt uplifted by the 100 volunteers who helped with the mural and felt valued by the city because of the amount of work and effort they put into the project.
“Everybody just really put their hearts into this, and I think because we were still coming out of COVID at the time, people were hungry to be in the community doing positive things,” Boswell said.
(Photography by Visionkit Studio. Courtesy of Boise City Department of Arts & History.)
Volunteers included local people experiencing homelessness and their involvement gave her a new perspective on how people want to be part of a community and connect. She felt homeless people don’t often get opportunities to do that, due in part to negative public perception of them.
Besides the homeless community, Dan Prinzing, who was executive director of the Wassmuth Center for Human Rights at the time, said Boswell also involved children, refugees and more to assist in creating the images. He described how the process felt like a community art piece.
“After it was completed, the community owned it — it was a reflection of all of us,” Prinzing said. “In so many ways, the mural became a statement of who we are — and an invitation to find yourself in the space. Also, because of its location on the Greenbelt, visitors just come upon it. First glimpses as you’re walking do not showcase the entirety until you are actually in the art of the mural. It really becomes a discovery.”
Imagining a better world
Boswell’s final mural, Hamby said, included individuals radiating light in their own ways, featuring people who have stood up to injustice overlaid with cultural symbols and imagery of pride, all coexisting within elements of Boise’s natural landscape.
Hamby said the mural is well loved and has inspired a few requests for more tunnel murals since its completion in 2022. She added the area surrounding the mural has recently undergone major construction with the addition of the Phillip E. Batt Education Building, home of the Wassmuth Center.
“E Pluribus Unum is now part of a well-thought-out, shared campus that better supports people moving through the area and encourages individuals and communities to come together to learn, reflect and imagine a better world,” Hamby said.
The new building also features over 30 pieces of human rights-themed art from local and regional artists, including a piece by Boswell, continuing, according to Hamby, a powerful conversation between artists and adding vibrancy to the area.
When it came to Boswell’s vision for the mural’s space, Prinzing said it felt encompassing — not singular in imagery, but rather “inclusive of the many who call this valley home.”
What both surprised and pleased Prinzing was the city’s and artist’s commitment that the mural should and would become a part of the Memorial’s story, amplifying its message with a large-scale art feature. He said the entire tunnel would be used as the project’s canvas and with intentionality to expand the impact of the Memorial.
Racist pushback quickly addressed
While the mural has been loved by the community, it has faced some detractors. Shortly after the mural was dedicated, there was one instance of antisemitic graffiti in the tunnel.
“Luckily, we were promptly notified, and our Collections Management team was able to respond immediately,” Hamby said. “Because we added an anti-graffiti coating over the mural, we were able to remove the graffiti in just a few hours without damaging the artwork.”
Boswell said the mural’s colorful, busy design helps deter people from writing on it.
For passersby who may not know the full story behind the mural or understand the symbolism, Boswell hopes it leaves them with feeling uplifted and reassured that everyone is in it together.
Prinzing said Boise City Department of Arts & History placed a placard that directs the public to the mural’s back story — that the project evolved out of an act of racist and antisemitic tagging, but that act is not the story. He added how “the mural shares all of us — coming together under the canopy of Anne Frank’s chestnut tree.”
“We hope for people who don’t know the context of the mural that the message or the feeling it leaves you with is still the same — Boise is a city for everyone,” Hamby said.
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