South Philly in the late 1960s, early 1970s when Zagar arrived was apparently very distressed, allowing Zagar to purchase a lot of properties and renovate them. This also included beautifying them with his art (many in the community did not agree that his art in any way beautified anything). Many of his murals focus on individual people Zagar knew. In this case, the face depicted is of Bilal, a Pakistani apprentice of Zagar's.