Mary Shamaon, a student at Niles North High School in a suburb of Chicago, stood before a 16-foot-long blank canvas, paintbrush in hand. Alongside 30 Assyrian students, staff, and alumni, she was about to embark on a months-long project to create a mural that would bridge ancient Assyria to its modern history.
It was an intimidating moment, recalled group leader Ramina Samuel, especially knowing that the finished piece would be unveiled in a prominent hallway leading to the school library — and in full view of administrators, students, and the local community.
And as for their collective artistic experience? Extremely limited. They had completed only a few virtual workshops.
“How can you trust us to hold a brush and put something on this canvas,” Shamaon said to Noora Badeen, an Assyrian artist in Chicago charged with helping the group complete the piece.
Thinking outside the box
The coronavirus pandemic brought a new reality to the suburban high school of roughly 2,000 students — remote learning, virtual meetings, and a struggle to stay connected. The school’s Assyrian club sponsors, Samuel and Carmen Albazi, had to get creative to keep the students engaged.
Their early attempts fell flat, Samuel admitted. During the first semester of the 2020-2021 school year, they tried hosting a cooking show and holding discussions on Assyrian history, but attendance dwindled. Even combining activities with nearby Niles West High School didn’t help.
In that moment of frustration, Samuel and Albazi noticed the LatinX club working on a unique project of their own — a mural celebrating their community’s history. That sparked an idea: why not paint an Assyrian mural?
Caroline Benjamin, the school’s student activities director, jumped at the idea. The group was paired with Noora Badeen, an Assyrian artist from Chicago with experience painting murals. Badeen was tasked with helping the students develop a theme, teaching them ancient Assyrian patterns, and guiding them as they applied those skills to a mural that would live permanently inside the school’s hallways.
And she had to do nearly all of it virtually.
“We were dealing with the pandemic and with getting vaccinated or people getting sick,” Samuel said. “To complete such a large scale project during the pandemic, I think that’s a highlight.”
Bridging ancient with modern
Drawing has long been a hobby of William Yonadam. That’s why he was eager to join the project. Yonadam, an Assyrian custodian at the school, was invited along with Assyrian alumni and staff to take part in the process. They joined students in twice-monthly virtual meetings led by Badeen to expand on the theme for the mural and explore ways to reflect their Assyrian American experiences.
They settled on blending ancient Assyria with its present and future. The mural became more than something they could personally relate to, one participate told The Journal — it was a chance to share their culture with others.
“As Assyrians, we are now visible,” said Ghanima Birkho, another Assyrian custodian who joined the project.
As coronavirus restrictions loosened, meetings shifted into weekly in-person workshops. The group studied ancient art patterns and created a small-scale draft of the mural before any paint touched the canvas.
Still, completing the project was challenging, Samuel recalled, as artists had to work in carefully coordinated shifts.
“We had limitations of how many people could work on the project and we had to be careful about space and wearing masks and gloves and disinfecting,” she said.
Increasing Assyrian visibility
Assyrian king Ashurbanipal, founder of the world’s first known library, stands at the center of the mural, a nod to the group’s educational theme. And it’s purely by coincidence, Samuel noted, that the finished piece now leads students to the school’s library.
“The process of creating the mural taught me a lot more about my people and my ancestors and my culture,” said Oliver Albazi, a former student at the school. “If it can teach me more, it can undoubtedly teach anyone who has the pleasure of passing by it in the halls.”
Blue waves flowing along the bottom of the canvas symbolize moving against the current, while an eagle soaring above skyscrapers represents “flying toward the future.” The mural’s name, “Upstream, We Take Flight” emerged at the end of the process.
“We usually go to museums and see this art from a bigger scale, a larger picture of what relics we have, but to see the details, for example the beard of Lamassu and the features, Badeen really helped us see the art from a new perspective,” Samuel said.
A small ceremony to unveil the mural brought together the principal and school staff. In September, the group presented their work to fellow students and teachers, and later that month, parents and the wider community were invited to a grand unveiling.
“The mural achieves visibility of the Assyrian students and as a result, their culture,” Samuel said. “A piece of the students became visible to others. It’s a visual for them to relate to and also convey a message.”
Assyrian Club of Niles North High School
Founded around 1993, the Assyrian Club of Niles North High School meets weekly. Made up of both Assyrian and non-Assyrian students, the group organizes trips to libraries, museums, and cultural events — including cooking workshops at the Assyrian Kitchen to experience the “world’s oldest cookbook.” Membership is open to all students, Samuel said, because it’s “a way to spread our culture and celebrate our identity.”