Last month, a Georgia artist was praised when he created a Juneteenth Google Doodle. Now he’s being honored with a billboard.
» RELATED: When Google overlooked Juneteenth, Georgia artist filled in the blank
Davian Chester, a freelance illustrator and graphic designer in Columbus, was recognized by a few locals who donated funds to have his work displayed on a digital billboard, according to ABC-affiliate WTVM in Columbus.
The billboard is located on 13th Street in Columbus and shows an illustration of Chester on one side and his viral Juneteeth image on the other. “Congrats on your doodle, Davian!” is plastered across the front.
Although Google sometimes uses its homepage to honor prominent figures and dates with doodles, there was no image for Juneteenth, which was on June 19. That’s when Chester took matters into his own hands, creating an illustration that featured black hands breaking free of shackles that form the word “Google.”
Once he posted his creation across social media, it went viral. It's been liked more than 120,000 times across Instagram and Twitter.
“I feel that [Juneteenth] is important to me because it is a part of my history as an African American,” the 26-year-old told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution at the time. “It upsets me that still to this day, more and more people aren't as informed as they should be about it, and the process to make that happen is too slow. Every bit counts.”
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