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The call for racial justice in the United States took many forms in the summer of 2020. One of those expressions involved an 8½-story banner produced and installed by Rainier Industries Ltd., Tukwila, Wash. The banner’s artwork, American Rage by artist Shepard Fairey, is based on a photo taken by Ted Soqui during the Los Angeles riots in 1992.
The massive banner was produced for property management company Blanton Turner’s 9th & Thomas building, a hub for food and culture located in the South Lake Union neighborhood of Seattle. During construction of the building, which was completed in 2018, the Rainier team worked with the architects and builders to have extra reinforcements, eye bolts and braided cables built into the side of the building for the future installation of banners.
Rainier prepared the supplied artwork from the artist and had customer approval with 24 hours. The entire piece took just four hours to print on the company’s grand format printer and another four hours to RF weld and sew together. Removal of the previous mural for storage and installation of the new mural took just six hours with a team of high-access rappelling installers.