Three Sets of Twelve

For the lobby of the federal courthouse in Seattle, Michael Fajans created a three-part mural that celebrates the vital civic function of juries. The artist selected twelve Seattle residents to represent a diverse citizenry. On the ground-floor level of the mural, Fajans shows these potential jurors—at twice life-size and in vibrant color—engaged in their various professions: microbiologist, stenographer, potter, architect, camera repairman, cellist, computer operator, shoemaker, city bus driver, heavy-equipment operator, garment worker, and window washer. The heroic scale of these figures conveys the dignity of their work. Fajans took a series of photographs of each person and used the images to create his final drawings. He then methodically painted each figure onto the wooden panels over a period of many months.

On the second floor, Fajans painted one wheelchair (belonging to the computer operator) and eleven versions of the jury-box chairs used in the building’s courtrooms. He chose to depict the chairs in a variety of different ways—fragmented, in various sizes, as a shadow or a misty outline—to metaphorically convey that each juror comes to the courthouse with varied life experiences and points of view.

The mural on the third-floor mezzanine shows the jury, composed of the same individuals depicted in the first-floor mural: Leon, Cathy, Reid, Kay, Joe, Roberta, Daniel, Walter, Mattie, Chris, Thu-Van, and Phil. Their individual jobs and tools—microscope, cello, sewing machine—have been temporarily set aside. Painted in muted shades of gray to unify the group, the jurors are life-sized and their gazes are directed at the viewer. The three levels of Fajans’ mural serve as a mirror that reflects the transformation all jurors experience as they enter the courthouse, suspend their normal daily activities, and assume their important public duty.