13Heart to Heart

This faded triptych on the 1915 Praetorian Building is the most historically improbable wall in Waco. In 1990 — the Berlin Wall barely down, the Soviet Union still standing — American artist Barbara Allinbloom, Soviet artist Gregory Semyonoff, and Russian cosmonaut Alexandre Tarelkine stood on this parking lot together and painted what's believed to be the first joint Soviet-American art venture of the glasnost era. In Waco, Texas. The center panel holds Christ above the whole earth; one side carries the U.S. Capitol, the other a Russian Orthodox cathedral; and the banner reads NOT ONLY FOR US in English and Russian — НЕ ТОЛЬКО ДЛЯ НАС.

Now the detail that gives you chills: the artists refused to paint the hammer and sickle. They painted the old Russian tricolor instead — betting, a full year early, that the flag would outlive the regime. They were right. The wall has been quietly fading here ever since, holding a moment when two enemies picked up brushes instead.