AUSTIN — Families being separated at the border has been a controversial issue for months.
This week, the U.S. government decided to allow families who were rejected to reapply for asylum. But one Austin artist took her stance to the side of a 30-foot building in a city filled with art.
"It looks like there's a child being held and there's a fence," said Jason Gernert. "They're behind a fence."
"This artist captures a pretty cool rendition," added Derek Campbell. "I mean, the more you look at it the deeper it gets, the more emotion you get."
The mural depicts a small child who is being held by what the artist said should be his mother, but there's a void. The entire silhouette is covered in a chain link fence.
"I created a mural on educating people about family separation and detention of immigrants at the border," said Kristen Gunn, the artist behind the painting. "It's really about feeling the emotions involved, so empathizing with that little boy, the hurt and the scared feelings that any child would feel when they're separated away from their parents."
Gunn said she decided to start this series of murals after hearing the story of a woman whose child was taken away from the border this last April. She has many small murals, but the 30-foot one at 700 N. Lamar is the keystone piece.
She said that she will paint pieces on any wall where someone wants one. Her goal is to allow people to have a conversation and spread this around the country.