Many in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District are upset after somebody vandalized a public art exhibit focused on Japanese American history. The damage was discovered on Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
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Since 2018, we’ve been the only full-service exterior surface cleaning company chosen by Seattle’s top neighborhoods to remove graffiti, human waste, and unwelcoming debris from thousands of businesses.
Cleaning up vandalism, especially on a historical exhibit, requires more than just scrubbing away the paint. It involves understanding the materials, surface textures, and techniques used in the original artwork.
“There was black paint just covering basically most of it,” said Liang. “Lettering, words, there were some Bible verses here, paint all over this just covering everything.”
The public art exhibit is put on by the Wing Luke Museum, which unveiled the display back in 2019.
On one side is informational panels highlighting four landmark Japanese businesses in the neighborhood, while the other features a mural memorializing the incarceration of Japanese Americans during WWII.
“When I see that graffiti it really reminds me of what my family went through coming here and what they had to endure, just to prove that they belonged here,” said Joseph Shoji Lachman who lives in the Chinatown-International District.
We worked closely with Liang is the interim director for the CID Business Improvement Area to choose cleaning solutions and tools that would remove the black paint without harming the exhibit. Using soft brushes, gentle solvents, and a lot of patience, we carefully lifted the layers of paint while preserving the details underneath.
Every stroke revealed another part of the exhibit’s story—a reminder of why this work was so important. It wasn’t just about aesthetics; it was about bringing history and culture back to life.
“The Wing Luke Museum is deeply saddened by this vandalism of the powerful and evocative mural created by artist Erin Shigaki and the informational panels illustrated by artist Amy Nikaitani. This is extremely upsetting, but we thank Paul and Craig Murakami, who own the Jackson Building, and the Chinatown-International District Business Improvement Area’s sanitation contractor, who have already restored and cleaned up the damage. We send love and support to Erin’s and Amy’s families at this time.”