Providence mayor blames ‘right-wing billionaires’ for outrage over removing Iryna Zarutska mural

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley has claimed that a mural in the city depicting slain Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska, which is now set to be taken down, was not making the city a "stronger, more united community," and claimed that the outrage that followed the young woman’s killing in North Carolina was "funded by some right-wing billionaires" and "distorted" by Trump. He claimed that the owner of the building who commissioned the piece did not understand "the full context of" this.

A local news reporter asked Smiley, "Do you have any regrets about what you said and how you handled it?" Smiley had previously called Zarutska’s killing a "devastating tragedy," but said, "the misguided, isolating intent of those funding murals like this across the country is divisive and does not represent Providence. I continue to encourage our community to support local artists whose work brings us closer together rather than further divides us."

Smiley told the reporter, "I regret the state of where we are in politics today, where absolutely everything is political and controversial and hard. There's nothing we should be doing to take away from the tragedy of loss of life that was represented here, but then it was distorted by an erroneous tweet by our president, and then a movement was funded by some right wing billionaires, and it found its way to our community." 

He said that publicly-funded art in the public space goes through a "thoughtful process" for installation, "and this didn't go through any of that process. And so a private owner of a building decided to put a mural up that I don't think he understood the full context of. And I was asked whether I thought it should come down, and I thought it should. I didn't stifle anyone's speech. It was his decision whether to continue with it or to take it down, but it wasn't, certainly wasn't bringing us together as a community. There was really angry protests on both sides, a lot of hate speech online. And so I don't think we're a stronger, more united community because of this mural, and I thought the best thing to do was to just take it down."

The reporter asked, "But to be clear, the city never directed the artist or the business to take the mural down," to which Smiley added, "or to put it up. This was a private building owner and a private artist that made a decision to hang this thing, and then they decided to reverse course. We didn't force him to take it down, neither did we force him to hang it in the first place."

The mural had been in progress on the side of the gay nightclub The Dark Lady. The nightclub apologized, saying in a statement, "We heard you PVD. We are deeply and sincerely sorry for everything that has taken place over the past week. After reflecting and learning, we have made the decision to discontinue this project and will move forward with removal as soon as possible. We remain committed to fostering unity, safety, and care for all members of our community, and we will continue to listen, learn, and act with those values at the forefront."

Zarutska was stabbed to death aboard a light rail train in Charlotte, North Carolina in August. Decarlos Brown Jr, 34, was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the attack. He is also facing federal charges. Zarutska had come to the US to flee the war in her home country.

A petition has been launched in an effort to save the mural, with the artist behind the project, Ian Gaudreau, also looking for potential alternative spaces to host the project. As of Thursday afternoon, the petition has received over 11,000 signatures. 

Gaudreau wrote, "As the artist I’m very saddened to hear that the mayor is calling for my art work to be removed before I was allowed to finish speaking. I would like everyone to know that the artwork is meant to combat the idea of it being used for a political agenda. I want the Mural to humanize Iryna. The blue shape Motif that I use in my paintings references each individuals point of view, in this painting they wrap around Iryna as if they are strangling her and yet she still shines through. I hope that this is what people will take away and put aside all of the political vitriol. Iryna Zarutska was a human being with a mother and father, who are still with us and still grieving."