Ashley Nora

In 2021 Alan Bacon and Malina Jeffers, co-founders of GANGGANG, brought Nora in to create a mural for BUTTER, their annual art fair.

The mural was painted in the 200 block of 11th Street on the wall of the Stutz Building, honoring eight iconic Black Indiana natives in 3D style portraiture.

[4] In an interview with FOX59 News, Nora mentions that "Keepers of Culture" was meant to be a thank you to the eight Black Indiana icons featured for not giving up on their dreams.

This painting was created live by Nora during a Pacers basketball game for one of the team's Black History Month activities.

Within the boundaries of her letter she painted her two young daughters inside of fists, including their dream jobs written out under their portraits.

To the Collective, this gallery was meant to represent changes to the art sectors of Indianapolis as they become more welcoming to the Black talent that has gone unrepresented in the past.

[10] The piece that Nora chose to have included in the gallery, "Nobuhle", was the first painting the artist created after her trip to the Kingdom of Eswatini.

In an interview with Newfields Nora mentioned that, as a kid, she only lived five minutes away from the Lauren Rogers Museum of Art, but that she did not have the money to go inside.

Ashley Nora at the BUTTER art fair standing with two of the pieces she painted inspired by her trip to Eswatini