Family, healing and hip-hop culture shape Paint Louis 2026

Soon after the floodwall went up in St. Louis following the Great Flood of 1993, it became a hangout spot for John Harrington and his friends.

“The cops kicked us out of downtown, and we really had nowhere to hang out,” Harrington said. “So we went down there and started doing graffiti, listening to music, dancing — all that stuff.”

In 1997, Harrington and his crew launched Paint Louis. In the decades since, the space that centered the visual art element of hip-hop — which includes graffiti, deejaying, breakdancing and rapping — has grown into one of the world’s largest openair art festivals. Artists use spray paint and liquid acrylics on the 2.5-mile stretch of concrete just south of the Gateway Arch.

The event has expanded to include live music performances — this year’s headliner was Flipmode’s Rah Digga — along with vendors and community programming like Paint Littles, where veteran artists teach children the basics of lettering and can control. Next year it will celebrate 30 years.

“A lot of people don’t know that Paint Louis is a Black-owned event,” Harrington said. “A Black-owned event that gives agency to young Black artists from St. Louis. A lot of these artists you see up here now started coming down to Paint Louis as kids.”

One of those artists created one of Harrington’s favorite displays at Paint Louis 2026. His name is Dormir — also known as William Burton III.

His three-day painting session was a family affair for the Burtons. As Dormir painted his section of the wall, his parents and siblings sat in lawn chairs beside their vehicle. They talked, laughed and cooled off with drinks from a cooler while watching him work.

His father, William Burton Jr. is also a visual artist. He streamed updates on Facebook Live throughout the weekend. By Sunday afternoon, Dormir was nearly finished. Each time this reporter checked in, he was at the top of the wall, focused on the piece.

“I can’t really find the words to express how proud I am,” Burton Jr. said. He looked at the sky-blue and black mural — filled with comic-style characters — and smiled again.

He described his son’s work as “a combination of his thoughts.”

“It’s hard to describe,” he said. “From a father’s perspective, you don’t think about his creative process because you see it every day. Then someone comes up and asks you about it.”

Father and son have collaborated before — including the Tina Turner tribute mural in The Ville — but Dormir was solo at Paint Louis.

“I’ve watched him grow, and I’m gonna support whatever move he’s trying to make,” Burton Jr. said.

He said his son never asked for permission to be an artist. He simply started creating.

“I’ve supported him and taught him as much as I could — showed him things I wish I had been taught at an early age,” Burton Jr. said. “I gave him all the insight I had, and he grew from there. His growth is his own. And what I’m most happy about is that he never had to create under my shadow. He’s always had his own light and his own identity. That’s a blessing.”

Paint Louis was also a family experience for Deonne Moore — her chosen creative family. Last year, they used her mural space to honor her son, Chance Moore, who died from leukemia at age 16, about a month before Paint Louis 2025. His two-year battle had pulled her away from the world and from her art.

Brooklyn Kingsboro, Moore’s “brother in paint,” and their crew brought her back with a tribute to Chance.

“I just wanted to show her love,” Kingsboro said. “She paints with us constantly through Paint St. Louis. We paint together as a group effort — and we support each other on the wall. So it was only right.”

Moore felt the impact.

“Brooklyn was like, ‘I don’t know how else to talk with you about it,’” she said. “He said, ‘This is our way of talking with you about it and honoring his life.’”

The whole crew worked on the tribute.

“It got me back down here,” Moore said. “And it got me back into my art – and I haven’t stopped since.”

After last year’s emotional tribute, Kingsboro kept it light for Paint Louis 2026. His mural highlighted his Black Nerd clothing line and his range as a visual artist.

“I didn’t want them to have to look too deep this year,” Kingsboro said. “Just appreciate a hard-working brother out here with some paint. The colors are vibrant. Just enjoy that and chill.”

Moore hadn’t planned to participate this year. Between teaching full-time, attending UMSL for her Studio Art degree and raising her children, she was swamped. Her crew convinced her to come anyway. She used her space to finish a piece she had sold before completing it at a live-painting event.

“It is a woman blooming,” Moore said. “My thought process was to fill her head with flowers.” The woman’s afro has flowers growing from it.

“I hope they feel the beauty in her cloud,” Moore said.

In that way, the piece is a bit of a self-portrait — and a statement on behalf of women artists.

“I want to show people that we are here,” Moore said. “We exist, and we can hang with the big dogs.”

She sees Paint Louis as healing — for herself and for others. And she’s proud of how much the event has grown in the decade she’s been involved.

“Now you get a chance to meet so many artists from around the country and connect with like-minded individuals. That is fun — and liberating.”

Artists come from across the country and around the world, but Harrington makes no apologies for being partial to St. Louis area talent. He pointed to C’babi Bayoc’s tribute to Fannie Lou Hamer as another standout this year.

“This is a homegrown event, but we have artists from Australia, Japan, Brazil, the UK and Africa coming to St. Louis to paint,” Harrington said.

He said the free, family-friendly event helps shift the narrative about St. Louis, thanks to the hundreds who attend each year. He also noted that the St. Louis floodwall is recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the longest graffiti wall.

“Paint Louis is about two-and-a-half miles long and 20 feet tall, but we might not be as famous as Art Basel — or the big million-dollar festivals in L.A., New York and Miami,” Harrington said. “But those artists and those people who attend all of those famous festivals also come to Paint Louis.”

For more information, visit paintlouis.com.