Photo by co-founder Neidy Gutierrez.
Sunday Rebel can do many things; create mixed media with form and abstraction, layer that with symbolism and spiritualism and, ultimately, tell a deep narrative with his art.
A weakness, or “sensitivity,” of his, however, is heights.
Walking past his recently completed mural—titled “As Above, So Below (Past, Present, Future Forward)”—on Ocean and Bidwell Avenues, near the Greenville section of Jersey City, you’d probably never guess that. But Sunday Rebel, whose real name is Jesse Wright, told Slice of Culture that it was the community that made the creation possible. From local residents to children and fellow artists, they all played a role in the mural that now stands tall and serves as a backdrop to Ocean Avenue’s community garden, and beyond.
“For me, part of this is giving back to Jersey the color and energy that it gave me,” Wright said.
“The other side is, once you make something, it’s the community’s… And part of that is a community wants to know their voice is heard, that they are seen. And I think I want to bring the color and energy of the community, put that up on the wall and hopefully they feel seen and heard.”
When painting the mural, he would encounter locals who would stop and say, “Let me tell you what this means [laughs]… And they say, ‘she’s saying, can you hear me?’… And I realized what he was trying to say is what he’s feeling in his heart.”
The Mural Process + Lore Behind “Sunday Rebel”
Wright was born in Hackensack, but spent a chunk of his time living in the Historic Downtown area of Jersey City, including Brunswick Street as well as 7th and Coles Streets.
Aside from putting “some good years” in Jersey City, Wright also credited it for being one of the reasons behind his artist pseudonym.
In 2005, there was a downtown gallery called Gallery 58, ran by Orlando Reyes, which became known for hosting a rotating roster of guest creatives. They held an art show called “Heavy Hitters” where they were trying to showcase “some heavy hitters” in Jersey City, but there was one caveat: don’t use your name.
Wright explained that the reason why they didn’t use their names was because they wanted to see if people would pick out their artwork, so eventually he chose “Sunday Rebel.”
“I was speaking with that mixedness [mixed media art]… I thought, Sunday can be considered a day of rest, but there’s all this other stuff I gotta work on and that’s the rebel in me,” he laughed.
“I wanted to have that balance of rest and peace, but also that uprising. And there’s still some stuff that we gotta handle and take care of. So that’s where Sunday Rebel hails from. And having that [‘also known as’] allows you to throw on your cape and boots; Sunday Rebel can do some stuff that Jesse Wright doesn’t.”
Fast forward to 2024, Sunday Rebel has done a lot. He has created murals from New York and New Jersey to Port au Prince, Haiti; Sierra Leone, West Africa; and Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. And he still found his way back to one of his homes—Jersey City.
The opportunity for Ocean Avenue’s “As Above, So Below (Past, Present, Future Forward)” came from Brooke Hansson, the director of the Jersey City Mural Arts Program (JCMAP), who Wright previously worked with to bring other murals to life like “As Above So Below (Jersey Shore),” located at Newark Airport in Terminal B.
It started off with JCMAP, but later transitioned into a community garden project that garnered more support from others like Hudson County and Jersey City police, to name a few.
Thinking about the location and garden, Wright wanted to tell a story of transformation and growth “through looking at somebody’s past, their present and their future, or an eternal spirit connected throughout.”
And this was the result.
At the bottom, or foundation, of the mural, there’s a black-and-white figure with Pan-African colors behind it, symbolizing the woman’s ancestry and past. On the right side, there’s a larger, vibrant figure wearing a red, white and blue dress, which Wright explained was another version of the Statue of Liberty, but illustrated as an everyday person. Beside that are a cardinal, blue jay and blue sky to further follow the red, white and blue theme and flowers that reference the community garden that’s below.
On the left wall, there’s a silhouette figure of the woman over the stars, whose hand is beside her ear, almost like she’s listening.
“I wanted to say between the past and the present, we have in our eternal spirit and our hopes, wishes and dreams and aspirations that carry us. And then the flowers, … the growth and flourishing that we’d see throughout the journey and ideally in the community from this garden,” he added.
From the help of fellow artist Avery Nice; local children who painted the apples on the woman’s dress; SOLID Foundation Skate Park volunteers; Hudson County and City of Jersey City representatives; Wright’s wife; and the Jersey City police who brought floodlights to help illuminate the area when the project went into late hours of the day, Wright emphasized the community effort.
“It was really just a generous effort,” he said. “… I just wanna say so many people from the community walking by [saying], ‘AYO, that looks great!’ beeping their car horns and just shouting us [out] that keeps you going. Whether it’s the hot hours of the day or at night when you’re up there in the heights and the lift is swinging, they’re just lifting you up. Community, community, community.”
Sunday Rebel’s Artwork
Jersey City and New Jersey can be found all throughout Wright’s art.
Billboards fall down, he paints on it. Posters find their way into his hands, he utilizes it. He uses these “fragmented pieces” because he wants the “energy of the place” to be in his artwork, he said.
His Jamaican-American heritage also has a major informative role in his creations.
“I think that in being mixed race, I think experience of that have informed a mixed media approach where I want to see a ‘bothness’—if that’s a phrase—having layers, multiple textures, contrasting approaches [and] a blend of abstract with realism. Jamaica itself, the colors and the vibrancy is something that the more I leaned into Jamaica, the more the colors got pushed, the more that energy got lifted up.”
Wright will have his work next featured at the Akwaaba Gallery in Newark on Saturday, July 13 from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. A piece modeled off of Ocean Avenue’s mural will also be showcased.
Before wrapping up, Wright wanted to shout out one particular person who made his latest mural a success.
“There was a gentleman on the corner there named Happy Feet, and literally Happy Feet speaks in ‘Oh yeah.’ He’s like, ‘oh yeah, yeah. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah,’” Wright laughed. “And I’ll tell you all hours, Happy Feet lifted up the crew with his ‘Oh yeah.’ Happy Feet if you’re somewhere out there, ‘Oh yeah!’… you kept us going.”
“I encourage anybody out there as, as you climb, reach back as you get opportunities, work with students and people who wanna come up and show them how to do it. It’s a community thing… I’m so thankful for what Jersey City has given me.”
