Local artist Thomas Agran recently completed a fresh mural at the New Pioneer Food Co-op in Coralville to celebrate October being National Fair Trade Month. 

Agran was commissioned to create the work of art by Fairtrade America, a nonprofit organization focused on working with farmers and growing ethical crops.

Each mural commissioned by Fairtrade features farmers from around the world and the product, ingredient, or herb the farmer grows.

For Agran’s mural, he depicted A.G. Nandasena, a farmer in Sri Lanka who grows Ceylon cinnamon plants. Agran, who typically creates landscapes, did extensive research on the specific variety of cinnamon and worked to make the mural as accurate as possible. 

“It’s got a leery, elaborate process compared to a normal cinnamon stick that would come in your spiced cider or whatever. The mural features different moments in the process or tools that are part of that process of harvesting and processing,” Agran said. “I also had some peace of mind that the imagery being provided to me was like authentic, real imagery, and I’m not sort of telling some story confused by the algorithm or something.”

For community members and Co-op employees, such as Mac Kilburg, who has seen several murals and signs go up at the New Pioneer Food Co-op, watching the process is almost as good as seeing the final product. 

“It’s been so cool watching him as he’s been bringing the painting to life,” Kilburg said.

However, these murals do more than just bring communities together; they also bring attention to injustices across the globe, Kate Stritzinger, Fairtrade America’s director of brand, impact, and communications, said. 

“A lot of folks are not making a decent living, despite working way over 40 hours a week. We see that as an injustice, and Fairtrade is really about trying to change that by getting brands to sign on to paying more, and then the farmers themselves are also agreeing to certain social, environmental, and economic standards as well,” Stritzinger said.

Creating murals that reflect society is something Agran enjoys doing. He said murals that were strictly business, billboard and advertisement-like don’t add to a story in a culturally nuanced way.

“When there are opportunities to do murals that either really engage with the community or have a more interesting political statement, I think those are the kinds of murals that have built the environment that I want to live in… I don’t want to live in something if it’s always perfect and clean and neat and tidy,” Agran said. “To have the built environment to also reflect touch and human scale, I think is a good thing.” 

Although Agran is depicting farmers from around the world, he finds a way to incorporate his home life into his paintings. Most of the time, his signature on the mural is made up of his daughter’s name, which he hides somewhere within the mural.

These murals show the importance of paying attention to the origin of one’s food, especially since co-ops tend to be more fair towards farmers who take care in the harvesting and processing of food one eats,” Stritzinger said.

“Every product has a story. I think more now more than ever, we’re seeing just how connected we are as humans,” Stritzinger said. “That understanding where the products you’re consuming are coming from is actually quite a joyful experience of understanding, like, ‘How is this grown?’”

Stritzinger said one of the most crucial parts of Fairtrade is giving farmers voices, which contributes to the power dynamics and connections within the company.

“Fairtrade is co-owned by farmers. They have 50 percent of the voting power. When we’re talking about our connection to farmers, it’s very genuine. There’s not really a distinction between farmers and Fairtrade. It’s like we are one,” Stritzinger said.