BARBARA ROMAIN

Barbara Romain’s Public Works are bold declarations of presence, identity, and beauty in the shared spaces of city life. With a career rooted in personal transformation and community connection, Barbara brought her layered, symbolic style into the public realm—turning facades, transit shelters, and cultural institutions into living canvases for inclusive storytelling.

 

“Art was never just something to look at—it was something to live with.”
 

Her public art is not simply decorative—it is dialogic. Created with intention, collaboration, and deep love for the communities they inhabit, these works make art accessible, emotional, and democratic. They carry the same signature energy as her canvas paintings: vibrant color palettes, stenciled language, mythic symbols, and an unapologetic embrace of emotion and complexity.

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• Las Angelinas: This mural graces the façade of the former Women's Building in downtown Los Angeles. It celebrates the strength and diversity of women in the city, weaving together historical and contemporary narratives to honor female empowerment.
   

• Echo Love: Located at a bus shelter in Echo Park, this permanent installation infuses a daily transit space with color and emotion, transforming a routine waiting area into a place of reflection and community connection.​
   

• Whose Myth Are Youse With?: An installation at the Watts Towers Art Center Gallery, this project was a collaborative effort with community members and her brother, poet-musician Elliott Levin. It combined large-scale paintings with participatory elements, inviting viewers to explore personal and collective myths.​
   

• Inner Light: Commissioned by the Blind Services Agency in Chicago, this series of large paintings incorporates texts from agency clients, merging visual art with the lived experiences of individuals with visual impairments.​
   

Barbara’s public artworks reflect her belief that the city itself can be a canvas—one where beauty belongs to everyone, where meaning is embedded in the walls we pass, and where art doesn't wait to be discovered in galleries but meets you right where you are.
 

They are expressions of radical accessibility, feminist presence, and creative joy. They are urban poetry, shaped by community, memory, and vision—especially when vision itself becomes uncertain.

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