By Shereita Grizzle—

In 1970, Jamaica-born graphic artist Neville Garrick was a student at the University of California in Los Angeles.

It was there that he and six other black students created the mural known as ‘The Black Experience’. Though the mural has stood on the first floor of the institution’s Ackerman Union for over four decades, many past students remained unaware of its existence, until now.

A project to repair and restore the artwork, started in 2012, has now been completed, and for the first time in more than 20 years, students from the UCLA could enjoy ‘The Black Experience’.

Last Wednesday, UCLA students, alumni, faculty and staff gathered for the unveiling of the freshly restored 10×27-foot mural.

The event was held as part of the school’s year-end celebrations hosted by the Afrikan Student Union.

According to the institution’s website, among the guests in attendance were Garrick and Helen Singleton, two of the original artists, as well as renowned civil-rights activist Angela Davis (a former professor of Garrick’s whose image also appears in the mural).

Struggles, achievements

The mural depicts the struggles and achievements of some of the most influential African Americans in the United States, including Harriet Tubman, Frederick Douglass, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and Davis.

The seven art students – Marian Brown, Neville Garrick, Andrea Hill, Jane Staulz, Joanne Stewart, Michael Taylor and Singleton – are also depicted in the mural.

The total cost of restoration, which took place between December 2013 and February of this year, was approximately US$23,000 and was covered by the UCLA student board.

Garrick, a founding member of the Bob Marley Museum, was also a close friend of the reggae legend and was responsible for the artwork on the covers of some of Marley’s most noted albums, including Exodus,Survival and Confrontation.

He has also done work for Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh, Steel Pulse and Rita Marley.