---
title: "Finding ‘Unity,’ Healing in Art"
date: 2022-05-11T05:30:00-04:00
author: University of Maryland
canonical_url: "https://today.umd.edu/finding-unity-healing-in-art"
section: Articles
---
# Finding ‘Unity,’ Healing in Art

*May 11, 2022* — by [Shannon Clark M.Jour. ’22](/author/shannon-clark-m-jour-22)


> Image of Mural Created by Hundreds Reeling From Racist Murder to Be Part of New Collins Plaza

*170915 IMG 0867 Geoff Sheil 1920x1080 — Bowie State University and University of Maryland students collaborated to create the Unity Mural—an artistic outpouring of both grief and hope for healing after a white UMD student murdered 1st Lt. Richard W. Collins III, a Black Bowie State student, in 2017. A replica will be installed at a memorial plaza at the site of the tragedy.*

Against a placid cerulean sky, a pair of hands releases multicolored birds to fly among words of peace and justice floating amid the clouds—a plea for hope created by students at Bowie State University and the University of Maryland after a shocking tragedy engulfed both campuses.

Over the last five years, the four-panel,16-foot-long Unity Mural they designed and painted after the May 2017 murder of 1st Lt. Richard W. Collins III, a Black Bowie State student, by a white UMD student, has been displayed throughout Maryland. Starting in May, a replica of it will be part of a new plaza on the College Park campus honoring Collins and repudiating hate and bigotry.


*Collins Plaza rendering*



**Sidebar note:**

The dedication of Lt. Richard Collins III Plaza will be held at 11 a.m. May 16 adjacent to Annapolis Hall. All are welcome to attend.





**Topics:** [Arts & Culture](https://today.umd.edu/tags/arts-culture)


**Tags:** [Visual Arts](https://today.umd.edu/topic/visual-arts)


**Units:** [College of Arts and Humanities](https://today.umd.edu/topic/college-arts-and-humanities)