Eco Mural 18: Women's Wild Medicine
Location: Penn OBGYN, 3400 Spruce St. Philadelphia, PA
Artist: Designed, illustrated, and painted by Hagopian Arts
Ancient Ancestral Connections
The Wild Medicine mural portrait installation at Penn OB/GYN is a pilot piece for The Women’s Wild Medicine Initiative. This project has been in the making for years, as it draws from work dating back to 2016, exploring women’s empowerment captured in naturalistically embodied portrait paintings. This mural project serves to highlight the ancient ancestral connection between women and the wild medicines of their cultural roots.
Women’s history is woven together with plants and the healing arts. In virtually every culture, women maintained knowledge of herbal healing for the prevention and treatment of maladies that afflicted their communities. In recognition of this history, Hagopian Arts presents Women’s Wild Medicine, a series within our Wild Medicine Eco Mural Project, that explores cultural heritage through medicinal plants - murals depicting women of diverse cultural backgrounds juxtaposed with patterning and flora reflecting the Wild Medicine of their origins.
Complementary Approaches to Well-being
Both traditional holistic healing and modern Western medicine are significant and complementary approaches to well-being. While traditional healing focuses on treating individuals as a whole, and addressing the root of an issue, modern Western medicine relies on scientific research and procedures to treat specific symptoms or diseases. While these two approaches may seem to be at odds with each other, they can actually work together in a complementary way. By combining the two approaches, a comprehensive and balanced perspective on healing can be achieved.
Many people today have lost sight of both their connection to nature and the benefits of holistic awareness, lacking the understanding that the body itself is an ecosystem. Personal autonomy is what works on an individual level, empowered by the awareness of connection to nature and scientific advancement. The Women’s Wild Medicine series highlights the importance of our connection to nature on an individual level. This connection is uniquely explored in each piece through the lens of personal heritage, celebrating both individuality and cultural diversity.
Introducing the Women's Wild Medicine Project
The Women’s Wild Medicine Project expands on work within the ongoing Eco Mural Series and Wild Medicine Projects, murals designed to celebrate native medicinal flora and inspire citizen engagement with the natural ecosystem. Eco Mural 15, the first in the Wild Medicine series, centers on local flora that provide medicinal benefits and sustenance. Women’s Wild Medicine explores cultural heritage through medicinal plants - murals depicting women of diverse cultural backgrounds juxtaposed with patterning and flora reflecting the Wild Medicine of their origins.
The first phase of the Wild Medicine Project established a framework of events, partnerships, and educational elements that will be built upon for the Women’s Wild Medicine mural series. Through therapeutic, educational, art-making, and herbalism workshops, women will explore their creative self-expression, developing their personal narratives as they delve into a range of themes - cultural heritage through medicinal plant exploration, environmental sustainability, women-led local urban farming and botany, along with guided creative writing and art-making workshops. The Women's Wild Medicine Project truly speaks to the journey of self-awareness through driven exploration that is so vital to being an empowered woman within our society, and our environment.
About the Eco Mural and Wild Medicine Projects
The Eco Mural Project by Hagopian Arts is an ongoing series of public art installations designed to educate and inspire action on ecological and cultural issues. Each mural is a meticulously detailed, one-of-a-kind piece, blending vibrant artistry with rigorous research. These murals transport viewers into immersive natural environments, revitalizing urban spaces while addressing pressing concerns about environmental degradation.
Within this initiative, the Wild Medicine Eco Mural Project focuses specifically on the cultural heritage of medicinal plants. Through detailed depictions and thoughtful programming, the series highlights the historical, cultural, and healing significance of plants, fostering a deeper connection between individuals and the natural world.
The Eco Mural Project is rooted in the belief that reconnecting communities with nature can profoundly impact mental and physical health. These murals showcase the beauty of local flora and fauna, enlivening public spaces and encouraging residents to see their environment in a new light. This engagement inspires a sense of pride, belonging, and collective responsibility for the natural world. To enhance accessibility, each mural includes a scannable QR code linking viewers to a webpage that provides detailed information about the artwork, the plants featured, and their historical and cultural significance. These pages also honor Indigenous histories by sharing the uses, markers, and cultural associations of the depicted flora and fauna.
Community-Driven Programming and Collaborations
Hagopian Arts amplifies the impact of its murals through live events, educational initiatives, and community partnerships that engage people across generations and cultures.
Highlighting Interconnectivity: Eco Mural 20
As part of the Wild Medicine Eco Mural Project, Hagopian Arts created Eco Mural 20: Artelo to celebrate the interdependent relationships between plants, pollinators, and human communities. This mural was a collaborative effort with Square Roots Collective and 14 other public artists contributing uniquely to the Artelo hotel project. While each artist brought a distinct vision to the hotel’s art-filled rooms, Hagopian Arts focused on the ecological and cultural themes central to the Wild Medicine Eco Mural Project.
To expand its reach, Hagopian Arts hosted interactive workshops that engaged community members in the creative process: At Hyacinth Montessori School in West Philadelphia, children aged 6–12 participated in a painting workshop, learning about local flora and pollinators while contributing sections to the mural. This activity incorporated yoga and mindfulness practices led by Breathe Moore, blending creativity and well-being.
At John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge, community members painted portions of the mural while learning about the featured species and their roles in local ecosystems.
In September 2024, Hagopian Arts partnered with the Kennett Trails Alliance and Artelo for a public mural painting event during the Hispanic Heritage Festival in Kennett Square. Using a paint-by-number system and hand-mixed colors, participants painted sections inspired by the flora, fauna, and geometric patterns of Eco Mural 20. The mural, once finalized by Hagopian Arts, will be installed in Kennett Square in 2025, further expanding its impact and reach.
Honoring Indigenous Histories and Local Ecosystems
A standout project in the Wild Medicine Series is Eco Mural 21 at Bartram’s Garden, a series of freestanding mini murals showcasing medicinal plants historically used by the Lenni Lenape people. Designed with community input, the murals feature local flora, Lenape beadwork patterns, and depictions of children on the riverbank where passionflowers grow.
Hagopian Arts conducted extensive research into Bartram’s Garden’s historical catalog to honor the Lenape people’s contributions and highlight the cultural significance of the plants. At the unveiling event on September 15th, Melaney Gilchrist, a West Philadelphia herbalist, and mindfulness yoga practitioner Nakesha Moore of Breathe Moore led workshops for community families. These sessions explored the medicinal properties of the plants while fostering connections between art, history, and wellness practices.
Through its murals and programming, Hagopian Arts creates vibrant spaces for education, inspiration, and dialogue. The Eco Mural Project bridges art and environmental advocacy, encouraging communities to cherish their local ecosystems and honor the cultural and historical ties that bind them to the natural world.
Wild Medicine: A Multidimensional Creative Experience
This live event combined public art, botanical installations, body-painted models, and performance art to merge the worlds of creativity and herbal wisdom. Hosted in collaboration with women artists, herbalists, and grassroots organizers, the event invited participants to explore the healing connections between art and nature.
Ancient Ancestral Connections
Eco Mural 18: Women's Wild Medicine celebrates the ancestral bond between women and medicinal plants, featuring women from diverse cultural backgrounds alongside flora from their heritage. Installed at Penn OB/GYN, the mural also serves as a pilot for the Women’s Wild Medicine Initiative, a community-driven effort that highlights the healing power of native plants and their historical ties to women.
Wild Medicine Coloring Journal and Foraging Guide
In collaboration with educator and illustrator Katie Lillard, Hagopian Arts produced the Wild Medicine Journal and Coloring Illustration Booklet, inspired by the two murals created for Wild Medicine Eco Mural 15: Mugwort, Mullein, and Mallow. The booklet features twenty medicinal plants rendered in Hagopian Arts’ signature style, blending pattern, naturalism, and realism.
Hagopian Arts distributed the journal and accompanying foraging guides to schools and community organizations to introduce youth aged 3-18 to ecological awareness in both traditional and nontraditional learning settings. These resources were also shared during a mural unveiling, empowering community members to safely connect with wild plants and explore their uses in daily life.
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