On your typical weekday afternoon, you can fully expect to find muralists Allison Dunavant and Christine Crawford covered in paint. Just not hidden inside an art studio.
As founders of Girls Who Paint Murals, South Carolina’s only female-owned mural company, Crawford and Dunavant work most often in public spaces perched on top of ladders or hovering four stories above the pavement in a boom lift. They are commissioned to transform the walls of everything from apartment buildings and churches to restaurants and middle school libraries.
Needless to say, working in the elements and handling physical labor is part of the job. It has never fazed Crawford and Dunavant—only, ironically, those around them. “As women working on construction sites, we don’t always get a warm welcome,” Crawford admits. “Sometimes people question whether we know what we’re doing or how to operate the equipment. Over time, we’ve learned how to navigate that. It’s also part of the job.”…