Telluride, Co Wall Mural

 Nearly 80 years after JR Parks captured the portrait of a Harlem woman and her canine companion leaning into the springtime air of New York City, she lives on in Telluride, Co on this giant wall mural.  

In the image, a middle-aged African American woman leans out of an open window in Harlem, the hint of a smile playing across her lips as she gazes out over the street. A small collie dog perches next to her on the window sill, eyes alert.

What we know about the image was that it was made in Harlem in May 1943 while Parks was working for the Office of War Information.  At the time he was in New York to photograph Duke Ellington and his orchestra at the Hurricane Ballroom in New York City.