Erasure of Brandy Alexander Mural Raises the Ire of Residents, LGBTQ Advocates

Any muralist who works in the street art scene is likely familiar with how it feels to have a beloved or meaningful piece painted over. As much as the experience is to be expected when properties change hands and new interests take over at any given site, the erasure still stings. 

Oftentimes, it’s not just the artist that feels the sting but the residents who enjoy a specific piece of art and/or the community that felt represented by said art. That’s why one such act of erasure has raised a response among neighbors and members of Charlotte’s LGBTQ community. 

At some point between Dec. 31, 2024 and Jan. 2, 2025, a beloved mural depicting the late Brandy Alexander, an icon in Charlotte’s drag queen and LGBTQ communities, was painted over. All that stands there now is a blank, beige wall at the entrance to the Gordon Street Alley connecting its namesake street to a parking lot on Thomas Avenue in Plaza Midwood. 

Painted by local muralists Nick Napoletano, Matt Moore and Matt Hooker in 2016 as a way to honor Alexander, who passed away earlier that year, the mural also served as a protest against the infamous House Bill 2, aka the “Bathroom Bill,” which was still in effect at the time.

In a March blog post, Shane Windmeyer, who performs as drag queen Buff Faye and had a hand in the mural’s creation, railed against the sudden erasure. 

“The mural stood not just as an artistic tribute but as a symbol of progress,” wrote Windmeyer. “At the time, no other wall in Charlotte would dare feature a drag queen. And yet, there it stood, defiantly, with Brandy’s painted face radiating pride, beauty, and strength … It was more than street art. It was sanctuary.” 

Windmeyer spoke further about the topic on the March 26th episode of Queen City Podcast Network’s daily CLT1st podcast. 

Property records show that the building, home to 1510 Antiques and Consignments at the time the mural was created and currently housing Emmy Squared Pizza, was bought by Chartwell Property Group in July 2024 for more than $3.5 million. 

Queen City Nerve reached out to the company’s managing partner over phone and email but did not receive a response. 

[UPDATE: While Chatham Property Group is still yet to respond to Queen City Nerve’s multiple requests for comment, the company’s managing partner Jack Dunn told The Charlotte Observer’s Nora O’Neill that the erasure was a mistake due to miscommunication with painters who were hired to paint over a separate wall.]

Management at Emmy Squared responded to our inquiry with an assurance that the restaurant did not have any say in painting over the mural. 

“We are aware of the recent removal of the mural at our restaurant and understand the disappointment it may have caused in the community,” read a response from the restaurant’s spokesperson. “Emmy Squared Pizza was not involved in the decision to remove the mural. As a tenant, we do not have ownership or authority over the building’s exterior or structural decisions.” 

The mural depicted Alexander but also stood as a piece of protest art that would have since become all the more relevant after Republicans in the NC General Assembly introduced a new bathroom bill comparable to HB2 in late-March.  

The artwork showed Alexander standing defiantly with a cane topped by the Hand of Justice. Her earrings bore striking resemblance to then-Gov. Pat McCrory, an avid supporter of HB2, and her necklace included a transgender-friendly bathroom charm. 

“I hope it can be a meeting ground for every community,” muralist Nick Napoletano told WFAE’s Sarah Delia in 2016. “Charlotte shouldn’t be an exclusive place, it should attract all kinds. Hopefully this can be a positive reflection for people who seem underrepresented.

When we reached out to Napoletano this week, he said he had just become aware of the mural’s erasure days prior and saw it as a step backwards for artistic representation in Charlotte.

“Things are rapidly changing as they always seem to in Charlotte,” Napoletano wrote to us in an email. “I think what the city looks like and ultimately becomes depends on how many different flavors, colors, textures, people and cultures are allowed to come together and be expressed in our city. It’s what makes places like New York, Paris, London, etc., so special. They have the full spectrum.

“My hope since I moved to Charlotte almost a decade ago has been that as a city we grow culturally from playing with the box of 12 Crayola crayons to the box of 120,” he continued. “That includes having a range of voices being represented in a way that feels authentic. Beige tends not to inspire more authenticity. I have yet to hear poetry or music written about a beige wall.” 

Danny Leonard, who performed in drag under the name Brandy Alexander, was one of the most popular drag performers in the South in the second half of the 20th century, according to a biographical note accompanying the performer’s papers, which are kept by UNC Charlotte’s J. Murrey Atkins Library.  

Beginning her career in the 1960s and performing until shortly before she passed away as a result of cancer in March 2016, Alexander owned the Friends Lounge in Jacksonville, organized and raised funding as a fervent anti-AIDS activist, and earned the title of first Miss Gay North Carolina America in 1979 and the first state title for Miss Gay North Carolina USA in 1986.