Decatur unveiled the design Wednesday for a mural covering the MARTA overpass at West Trinity Place and Atlanta Avenue.
The artists are Felici Asteinza and Joey Fillastre, both 29 and both 2009 graduates of Florida State University. The design was chosen in part from two community sessions held earlier this summer.
From a distance the bridge will radiate certain psychedelic overtones, with muted blue concentric circles and a green ribbon wound throughout.
On closer inspection the ribbon becomes a deeply nuanced tapestry of chameleons, caterpillars, snakes, blueberries, salamanders and other local plants and animals.
The artists plan to start in early October, the work taking about a month. Fillastre estimates it’ll take 70 or 80 gallons of paint. He said the mural could last “maybe 30 years, maybe much longer,” though it will likely need pressure washing every five years and an occasional touching up.
The artists are based in Northern Miami and this is their third large-scale community project, although Fillastre said they’ve done roughly 100 smaller-scale murals for businesses, performance spaces and the living rooms of private homes.
The mural will cover both sides of the overpass and its support beams. Built in the late 1970s, the overpass spans a district that for much of the 20th century was a thriving African-American business/residential district.
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