Artists paint New York shops boarded up after looting to raise hope

Artists paint a mural on a boarded-up storefront as part of a community project in the Bowery neighbourhood of Manhattan in New York. Photo: Reuters

Boarded-up shops, a depressing sight for New Yorkers after looters infiltrated anti-racism marches in the city's trendiest neighborhoods, are being transformed into canvases of hope with paintbrushes wielded by a small army of artists.

The effort is headed up by artist Sono Kuwayama, best known for her installations employing painting, sculpture and video, who lives in lower Manhattan's Bowery Street neighbourhood, a once dingy area gentrified into a bustling, upscale section by the opening of galleries and shops.