Grown From Concrete: landscaping identity through art in East Oakland

by Rudrani Ghosh

Nimrod Cain is an artist, born and raised in East Oakland, California. His art and music tell stories of his journey as a father, his quest to uplift his culture and community, and life in an urban jungle affected by rapid gentrification. 

​​Nimrod Cain was riding the bus back from his high school in Oakland, California one afternoon in 2012, when he saw a worn-down liquor store. The walls were blotchy and covered in graffiti. Rod got off the bus and approached the store owner about repainting the wall with community art. That month, Rod and his art collective Grown From Concrete (GFC) painted a mural of community members on the wall.

“The lady who was working the cash register came out and saw the mural and was so happy. She asked us if we could paint her on the mural. We painted her standing behind the cash register. We also added names of the people from that neighborhood who had passed away,” Rod said.

Nimrod, or “Rod” to his friends and family, is a 26 year-old visual and music artist from Oakland, California. Born and brought up in East Oakland, Rod has been grappling with establishing his own identity in a society that is eager to define him.

Rod’s life experiences and his role as a parent have shaped his goal to create alternatives for people in his neighborhood. He wants to come up with solutions for people in East Oakland, who are trapped in a racist and discriminatory system, by establishing a YMCA, starting music programs, and creating a local market within his neighborhood.

“Living in an inner city gives you a perspective that you probably wouldn’t get otherwise,” he said. “Being in an impoverished neighborhood with food deserts and high crime, you get a different outlook on life than people who come from the suburbs or other classes.”

He began painting murals with GFC in dilapidated areas around East Oakland, where the walls have been worn down, or the buildings are left abandoned. “We want to reinforce positive images where stereotypes exist,” Rod explained.

Rod grew up in his grandmother’s house with his mother, grandmother, and younger sister. “My childhood was like any other regular inner city kid,” he said. “I come from a big family, and I was around a lot of cousins. That gave me the idea that I should go out there and meet people who don’t look like me.”

Due to his surroundings, Rod saw the negative aspects of life at an early age. “I don’t feel easily defeated as a result of how I grew up,” Rod said as he reflected on his childhood memories.

While in the second grade, Rod recalled enjoying gardening with his classmates, one day. The school had given out free books to students, and everyone was having a good day. Then, he was summoned to the back of the class by his teacher and was told that his older cousin, Mila, was the victim of a homicide. Mila was 17 years old when she was killed.

“I had a handle on death at an early age,” Rod said. “These experiences –they place a veil over your eyes so the things you see prepare you for the other things out there.”

Rod came to a realization that the things we see have a great impact on us. Today, he is a music producer, a visual artist, and a student of Anthropology at the Peralta Colleges.

“I didn’t learn about my identity at an early age,” he said. “Through visual art, I was able to create my own identity and people could see me. For people who don’t have an identity, creating our own is really important.”

Making visual art gives him the agency to not only shape his own identity, but also allows him to directly affect his community. Like many Black Americans, Rod’s ancestry and social identity have been erased and rewritten. “People say that underserved communities are ‘voiceless.’ We don’t have a political voice, and the changes in our neighborhoods are not controlled by us. Changes that can literally make us who we are,” he said.

East Oakland is a dichotomy of diversity and gentrification. Of the roughly 90, 000 people who live there, 46 percent are Latino, 32 percent are Black, 11 percent are Asian, and 7 percent are White. The streets of East Oakland stretch on for miles, with liquor stores and fast food joints on every block, and no fresh produce store in sight.

Streets milling with pedestrians, vendors, and stands of freshly made churros by day become a barren expanse, dotted with yellow headlights and sex workers by night.

The changing landscape of the city and gentrification are also impacting Rod’s art practice today. About five years ago, Rod painted a mural of Oscar Grant at a store in Fruitvale called Bonanza. Oscar Grant had been shot and killed by the police at Fruitvale Station, which was located near Bonanza. Recently, due to skyrocketing rent prices and influx of franchises, Bonanza closed its doors and the building was sold. The mural no longer exists.

Since then Rod and GFC have painted several other murals in the neighborhood. They start by buffing the walls with a fresh coat of paint, and then find a message that fits the character of the neighborhood. “Every time we paint a mural, the business always gives us free stuff. One time we painted at a taqueria, and whenever we went back, they fed us for free,” he said. He thought for a moment and added, “sometimes all people need is some art, to change their lives.”

Another pivotal aspect of Rod’s identity is his role as a father to his three year old daughter, Aloni. “Parenting is another opportunity to learn about yourself. Kids kinda put a mirror up to you. It makes you conscious about your actions and your decisions,” he said. He tries to teach his daughter to do things on her own and in her own way. He thought for a minute, and said, “most people are convinced that there is a standard way to live life and that they will not be successful outside of that.” 

Rod is motivated to reshape his community through his life experiences and his new role as a father. “Taking things away from people or oppressing them has no benefit towards humanity,” he said. “I want to fight for all people to live a full life and a better life. But first, I have to start with the people around me.” To combat the erasure and degradation of his community, Rod continues to use art as a weapon.