The Silver Spring Penguin

Credit: R. Pace/SSP.

Editor’s note: Penguin photog Ron Pace first spotted this piece of street art going up outside Fenton Village’s Kefa Cafe in early June, but the real eye grabber was the artist’s tricked-out car.

At first glance, some people notice bright colors and broad faces beaming from the dingy alley off Bonifant Street. Others notice the kid carrying an AK-47 over his shoulder.

Either way, the mural sprouting outside Kefa Cafe in Fenton Village has drawn the neighborhood’s attention. Each figure on that brick wall has a story to tell. So does the guy painting them.

Joel Bergner has painted murals in San Francisco, Chicago and The District, most with a nod to the immigrants who make up those neighborhoods. They also reflect his peripatetic life, as he rolls from one city to the next in his pimped-out ride.

In this latest work, dubbed the “Global Refugee Mural”, Bergner depicts the stories of three area immigrants. The painting’s upper-left corner tells of Georges, a former mayor in The Congo who fled his homeland when rebels took over his region.

Along the bottom, Mai’s banishment from Myanmar is played out. The woman and her family were told not to bother coming home after visiting a church in the United States.

In the upper-right corner is the story of an unidentified Iraqi whose brother was murdered by extremists. The woman eventually took refuge somewhere in the DC metro area.

Montgomery County’s arts and humanities council picked up the mural’s tab, along with the International Rescue Committee’s refugee resettlement center on Georgia Avenue.

Originally published Jun 11, 2009.