On each episode we feature a different piece of public art in Beaver County—from painting to sculpture, from grand to demure, from serious to silly. Public artworks are significant expressions about who we are and what we care about. They commemorate people, places, and events. They recognize history.

And sometimes, public art is meant to be an open, inviting, and interactive space for communities.

This is what we find in the “Weeping Wall” in front of the future home of the Portobello Cultural Life & Arts Center on 7th avenue in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania. The center is expected to be a hub of community activity with a co-op food market, pottery studio, black box theater, and conference room. The Center will also be a gathering place for artistic expression. But for now, the Portobello building remains an empty lot.

What started out as an unadorned sidewalk barrier in front of the lot where the Portobello center will be built, the wall of brown wooden pallets eventually became the locus of community expression—ranging from grief to hope—surrounding the tragic 2020 death of George Floyd and nationwide protests against racial injustice and police brutality.

The Weeping Wall, says Portobello, was “designed to help process the pain and chaos that has surrounded us” during the spring and summer months of 2020. The public was—and still is—invited to interact with the wall.

Portobello goes on to say, “Much like the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, we invite the community to write directly on the wall, tuck prayers or wishes into the cracks and crevices of the slats, or tack up a poster that shows your grief for someone lost to COVID-19 or someone who cries out through the pain of systemic racism that continues and was ignited by George Floyd’s murder in Minneapolis . . . this is YOUR WALL Beaver Falls community, and we invite you to interact with it as a tool for processing, communication, and healing.”

We highly recommend visiting the Weeping Wall in Beaver Falls. It’s public art that moves you.

Video: Harper Atkins / Photos: Portobello Cultural Life & Arts Center