Everyone Wants to Leave Their Mark

Weaving narrative with vivid hues and at a massive scale, artist Mickael Broth’s Everyone Wants to Leave Their Mark is the Taubman Museum of Art’s newest outdoor mural on view. Located adjacent to Morning Brew Coffee Company under the Williamson Road overpass facing Norfolk Avenue, the mural recounts the journeys of Broth’s family and friends in addition to his own experiences, ultimately exploring the human desire to leave an everlasting mark on a transient world.

Broth, also known as “The Night Owl,” is a Richmond-based artist, muralist and writer. He moved to his new hometown in 2001 with the intention of painting as much graffiti as possible, but his work was halted abruptly in 2004 with his arrest and subsequent 10-month jail term—his graffiti was considered vandalism at the time. Since then, he has gone on to pursue a successful (and legal) career in the arts.

Credit: Exhibition overview from museum website