[gentle music] - Can you imagine living in a city or a world where there wasn't any public artwork?

Like you had to go to a gallery or someone's house to see a piece of art?

That sounds like a terrible world to me.

[upbeat music] You need color in the world, and public art tells a story, but also just makes a place less drab.

Public art is not about me, it's about a town, it's about a city, it's about a place, it's about people.

Community engagement is just as or more important than the artwork itself.

That's really where it starts and what it's all about.

My name is Gabriel Eng-Goetz and I'm from Durham, North Carolina.

[upbeat music] [birds chirping] Public art is something I always knew I wanted to do.

It was just a matter of when.

[birds chirping] After art school I really wanted to figure out how I could create a link between fashion and music and just push both cultures.

So, I created a brand called Runaway.

[upbeat music] I had opened a store on Main Street in downtown Durham and we were hosting, you know, listening parties for local musicians, art shows.

More so than just a clothing company it became a creative platform.

Instead of me just trying to be this solo artist who was just pushing my work, it was like, why don't we come together and really become like this almost collective?

That's really where I kind of realized, okay, like my journey as an artist, whether it's illustration or music art or clothing or now murals and public art, the muse of community has always tied it all together.

That's the one cohesive factor.

[birds chirping] Being a muralist is like being in a long distance relationship.

[person chuckling] You're on the road a lot.

It's really hard work.

Sometimes you'll be tempted by that stable career gazing at you from across the room, but you think back to it though and like continue to do it just 'cause I love it and it's like, you know, always there for me.

So much of my work is about cultural identity outside of just nature and our connection to it, which is a big theme as well.

Cultural identity is huger than my work, especially with public art.

For myself personally, you know, I'm still trying to find my own cultural identity and I think most of us are.

Like, life is really about experiences, relationships, and where do you kind of fit in, and what is your identity.

For me, being a Chinese American person of mixed race, living in the South, just as a kid, like just confused, right?

Kids used to think I was Hispanic until like I got to a certain age and they kind of figure out, oh, his eyes are a little bit.

So like for me, I love to go in and really find other stories here of people who haven't necessarily been listened to.

Where voices for more marginalized communities don't necessarily have a platform or heard, public art goes so much deeper than just enhancing a place.

There is representation there, there's acknowledgement.

You know, it's easy to go into a town and be like, oh hey, like I'm just gonna hang out in downtown, talk to a few people, and we're gonna represent them.

I'm trying to go out in the cut and find these people.

Figure out how I can talk to them and then figure out ways that I can tell their story.

Here in Durham, I decided, you know, I don't see any public artwork really acknowledging this land as indigenous.

I then contacted the Occaneechi tribe and I worked with the tribal council to like gimme their blessing, but also their guidance on imagery for a mural on the Willard Street affordable housing complex right in downtown Durham.

Everything down from the colors, the plant species, the patterns that are within the piece were all from conversations with the tribe.

Public art, it should always be about the people and the place.

Any way you can tie in actual community members working on the project, that's just even better.

[gentle music] [paint guggling] - [Speaker] We didn't know you got to work with the paint.

- [Speaker] Yeah.

[paint guggling] - Yes.

Junior, you're learning.

- My experience working on these public art sites where I'm, you know, painting a piece for two, three weeks at a time, the amount of kids and young adults that come up to me and say, "Hey, how are you doing this?

How can I get into this?"

Like this is crazy to me.

What attracts me so much about public art is it's not about me and it's not necessarily shining myself as someone special.

[lift whirring] It's always be about the people and the place.

- Yeah, but this is extraordinary.

This is one of the best ones I've ever seen.

- [Gabriel] Wow.

Well, that's high praise.

I appreciate it.

- In fact, I'd say it is the best one I've ever seen.

- Okay, here we go.

For me, it's really just about connection.

If I'm going to a new city or town, it's gotta be about them.

[birds chirping] [lift whirring] [gentle music] You know, I'll be, you know, so focused on this wall, you know, staring at it for hours and I'll look up and you know, you just see this beautiful sunset.

Those moments are really where I feel like super grateful, 'cause I'm like literally working outside doing what I love the most and as a career.

[birds chirping] Fishing for me and art, there's a lot of parallels there.

For me personally.

You know, it's definitely meditative, it's challenging.

I'm learning something all the time.

And again, it's just kind of this like wonder of what else is out there, like what's beneath the surface or what is in that town or that city that I haven't uncovered yet.

You never quite know where that's gonna lead you and that's really what it's all about for me, and keeps me coming back for more.

[gentle music]