In March of 2021, Andrea Suarez commissioned a mural to be painted on a wall of downtown Seattle’s historic Barnes building, also home to Screwdriver Bar and the already famous mattress mural most well known for its appearance in Pearl Jam’s first photo shoot. In 1977, the building was declared a historic landmark by the city of Seattle.
She was supposed to preserve the mural
When Andrea Suarez approached the building owner about doing the project some months prior, permission was granted on the single condition that the old mural be preserved and worked into the new one somehow.
The giant white dot
Everyone in the community apart from the artist and Suarez herself, was horrified when the giant white dot appeared, covering up the old mural. This act symbolized all of the worst parts of gentrification in suffering the loss of that piece of history and Suarez once again reinforces a pattern of behavior in which she has an utter disregard for consent.
She didn’t obtain the necessary permits
To make matters worse, Suarez failed to obtain the necessary city permits in order to legally modify the historic landmark. It is unknown as to why she suffered zero consequences despite the clear cut criminal illegality of what she did.
Social media backlash
The social media backlash against Andrea Suarez reached far and wide, which was not helped any by its close proximity to the trespassing incident caught on film less than two weeks prior.
- Screwdriver Bar’s Instagram post expressing their outrage (500+ reactions, 250 comments)
- Alycia Ramirez Twitter thread #1
- Alycia Ramirez Twitter thread #2
- Screwdriver Bar makes an official statement on Instagram.
