damalola Mural @ 271 Western Ave

This mural in downtown Lynn, organized by Beyond Walls, is the work of Damaris Cruz, a fine arts artist from Puerto Rico who describes herself as a plant lover and coffee addict. Cruz’s street art style is mixed-media collage, built on her trademark use of yellow pages and photography. Her work deals with nostalgia, disuse and memory, drawing on the sentimentality of tropical kitsch and on the beliefs and traditions of everyday life.

Cruz graduated from the University of Puerto Rico. In 2011 she presented her first solo show, Humareda, created in response to the Capeco explosion. In the years since, she has taken part in collectives and events featuring live painting and mural creation in Puerto Rico and internationally. An ongoing project of hers paints murals on old abandoned wooden houses, reclaiming ignored spaces and erasing the boundary between the mural and the environment around it.

What to Know

• Beyond Walls is a Lynn nonprofit that brings large-scale public art to the city.
• The mural is listed among the public art of the Downtown Lynn Cultural District.
• As outdoor public art, it can be viewed from the street.