This summer Seattleites have rushed to preserve a mosaic depicting a saintly rat that is installed at a city park after work crews painted over it multiple times.
Now, Seattle officials have announced that they will no longer pursue removing the beloved piece of street art. Many have celebrated this decision – especially since the art work has become a symbol of transgender pride and resilience.
The glass tile rodent decorates a city owned building in Cal Anderson Park and peers out over a reflecting pool. The large unauthorized artwork looks like a stained glass window in a church showing a rat with a halo. At the bottom of the mural “Hot Rat Summer” is spelled out.
Walking by the art piece, Skully Mccommis said, “That’s the most beautiful mosaic I’ve ever seen in my life.”
At the rat’s feet – there’s an altar filled with a variety of offerings including transgender flag stickers, condoms, encouraging messages for trans people and a variety of rat figurines. Aaron Freedman has been coming out to the mural for months. According to him, it livens up the drab building it decorates and every time he visits “it brings a smile to my face.”
The mosaic reportedly appeared last year, but it’s not clear who created it. A spokesperson for the city said that it wasn’t on their radar until this past June, but confirmed it was reported as graffiti and was painted over several times. However locals responded by cleaning off the mural to revive the holy rat.
Freedman was inspired to start an Instagram for the mosaic to help the street art get more attention. His first experience with the artwork was earlier this year when he came out to help to remove paint from it. Freedman remembered thinking, “Wow this is beautiful…why would anyone cover this up?”
Over the course of this summer residents have called on the city to stop painting over “Hot Rat Summer.” In July, Seattle City Council Members Joy Hollingsworth and Alexis Mercedes Rinck even turned up to help clean the mosaic. Now, Seattle Mayor Bruce Harrell’s office has stated the city will no longer pursue removing "Hot Rat Summer."
This has been welcomed news to many, especially since the mural has become important to transgender people. According to Freedman, “a big part of the rat is that it represents trans love, trans joy and trans rights.”
The art work has become very popular across the city and has inspired local trans artists to sell prayer candles, shirts and tote bags with the saintly rat on them.
It's been hard for Capitol Hill resident Ashanti Bovoso to watch “Hot Rat Summer” get covered up over and over. For her, the mosaic is a place where she can come to feel a little sane.
“A lot of people see a rat and go ‘why does this relate to trans culture,’” Bovoso explained. “Rats are never going to go anywhere. People can try to eradicate us, they can try to remove us from society but we are always there. So, we all love rats as a result.”
Currently, the city is working on a plan to maintain “Hot Rat Summer” and is trying to connect with the artists behind the art piece to establish a formal agreement with them in order to officially recognize the mosaic.
