East Harlem has become a bit more colorful. On Friday, there appeared 22 new public art mural thanks to the initiative of «100 Gates», in which local artists are working with companies to bring more art to the streets and to vary the usual form of urban blocks.
New murals located on East 116th and 125th streets, designed to encourage more people to walking and Cycling and other forms of physical activity.
According to city officials, the city health Department merged with initiative group of «100 Gates» because murals can transform not only the building as a kind of contemporary street art, but the lives of people living in the area.
«These murals transform the pavement in an unexpected gallery encourage people to go out and explore the area,» said Commissioner for health, Dr. Oxiris Barbot. — Creating attractive urban landscapes, we can achieve good results in respect of the environment and health [of the population]».
East Harlem #100GatesProject + Uptown Grand @uptown_grand on @NBCNews tonight! @uptown_grand Encouraging walking #StreetArt #Graffiti NBC talked about 22 gates, but there are more than 3 x’s that! Check some of them out here @nycHealthy https://t.co/S7Hkrovvbe pic.twitter.com/WzOIT48ZMt
— GothamToGo (@afinelyne) January 26, 2019
According to representatives of city health, the promotion of physical activity is especially important in East Harlem, where a huge number of adults are faced with such problems as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
The health Department has provided the following disappointing statistics for East Harlem:
- One in four adults suffers from obesity.
- Almost every sixth inhabitant are diagnosed with diabetes.
- Every third adult there is a high pressure.
- Heart disease is the leading cause of death here.
«I thank the Department of health and mental hygiene, the participating artists and all business owners for joint work in realization of this initiative,» said city Council member Diana Ayala.
Check out our new murals on security gates at 22 storefront locations in #EastHarlem! The murals promote walking, cycling and increased physical activity among residents. Learn more about the #100GatesProject: https://t.co/EHrw253lQY pic.twitter.com/Ppv4gIFtE8
— nycHealthy (@nycHealthy) January 25, 2019
The project «100 Gates» was created in 2014 with the aim to beautify the gates of the enterprises of interesting street art and graffiti is not illegal.
By the end of 2016, the project managed to bring 100 new muralov in the Lower East side. Since then the program has spread to areas such as East Harlem, the North shore of Staten island and Flatbsh Avenue in Brooklyn.
