Bringing Home with Us

This mural highlights early residents of Houston’s Old 6th Ward and their descendants. Taking inspiration from local history, artist Royal Sumikat pays homage to the freed slaves and immigrants who made their homes in one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods and brings people together at the charming, young business in the Historic District. To reflect the diverse history of the neighborhood, the artist says, “the characters in my mural were created using different portraits of Italian, Mexican, African American, and German women from the late 1800s as references. The women are carrying Victorian and shotgun-style homes (reminiscent of the houses around Old 6th Ward) on their shoulders to symbolize ‘shouldering the responsibility’ of cultivating a culturally rich neighborhood where families can work, live, and play. It also symbolizes the idea that home is a state of mind – that we can take our home and make it wherever we go – and the original residents of the 6th Ward brought their homes and planted them in Houston.”

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Royal Sumikat is a Houston mixed media artist specializing in murals, paintings, and drawings. The subject of most of her work is the human image. She applies symbolism, mythology, and high-contrast colors not typically seen in day-to-day environments to her art in order to evoke esoteric ideas and to familiarize them to the public.