A painting can liven up a room, but what about a city?
Each year street artists from around the world come to Atlanta to turn walls into canvases for their colorful, provocative expressions.
It’s all part of a continuous effort by the nonprofit organization Living Walls: The City Speaks, founded in 2009 by street artists Monica Campana and Blacki Li Rudi Migliozzi. They had the idea that the power of art could change perspectives about the public spaces in our communities. Every year, they invite local, national and international artists to town for 10 days to paint the walls of the city, followed by a four-day conference.
This year, 18 artists have been painting murals around Atlanta since Aug. 4, and the fifth Living Walls Conference kicks off Aug. 13. Events include lectures, an outdoor film screening, a bicycle tour of murals and the "Main Event," an art and music extravaganza at the The Goat Farm Arts Center.
“Atlanta is very disconnected but we started something to empower,” said Campana.
Living Walls also connects with other community art projects like #weloveatl — a movement of photographers that sell their photos in a mobile gallery with the proceeds going to the Atlanta Community Food Bank (read more about #weloveatl here). They work together with Living Walls to grow Atlanta's art community.
Campana hopes the city recognizes the impact of Living Walls and “sees how vital this is to the city.”
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