Your guide to the 21 murals Atlanta is using to welcome the World Cup
This story was originally published by ArtsATL.
Going by viewership alone, the FIFA World Cup soccer championship is the world’s largest event. On a planet with 8.3 billion people, it is estimated 1.5 billion of them will be watching the World Cup’s final match. Teams from 48 countries will compete June 11 through July 19 across 16 North American cities, including Atlanta. Locally, our slice of the World Cup pie will be the biggest global event to come to town since the 1996 Olympics.
In preparation for the event, the Atlanta Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs has commissioned 17 murals, and Downtown Atlanta Inc. has joined in by sponsoring an additional four artworks.
Adriane Jefferson, executive director of the Office of Cultural Affairs, is thinking both globally and locally. “Murals combined with our green space, restaurants, nightlife, movies and music are an accessible way to share the soul of Atlanta with the international community while beautifying our roadways,” Jefferson said.
Nina Dolgin, program manager of arts and activation for Downtown Atlanta Inc., takes a long-term view of the project. “We saw this as an opportunity to invest in more permanent works that benefit the pedestrian experience in downtown for years, beyond the World Cup games,” she said.
Here is a preview of the artwork Atlanta will share this summer, starting with the murals sponsored by Downtown Atlanta Inc.
Muhammad Yungai
Location: Behind the American Hotel, facing Andrew Young International Boulevard NW
This detailed painting by Yungai depicts the 1966 opening day parade welcoming the Braves to Atlanta. Team members include Hall of Famers Hank Aaron and Phil Niekro, pictured here riding in streamer-festooned convertibles past a cheering crowd. The parade ended at the site of the mural — the American Hotel — Atlanta’s first integrated hotel, which welcomed all players equally during the transition from Jim Crow.
Angie Jerez
Location: AC Hotel, 101 Andrew Young International Boulevard NW
Jerez’s pastel-hued two-part mural celebrates the Spanish heritage of the AC Hotel chain, which was founded in Madrid in 1998 by hotelier Antonio Catalán. The wall features images of a flamenco dancer, an icon of Spanish culture derived from the folk music of Southern Spain.
Sanithna Phansavanh
Location: Westin Peachtree Plaza facing Andrew Young International Boulevard NW
Phansavanh highlights Georgia’s state flower, the Cherokee rose. In an Instagram post, @downtownatlanta said: “Though the rose is meant to symbolize Georgia’s history, the flower itself isn’t native here. Its roots trace back to Southern China, Taiwan and Vietnam, making this artwork a quiet celebration of Atlanta as a city shaped by cultures from around the world.”
Nick Turbo Benson
Title: “ATL Nighthawks at the Diner”
Location: Waffle House at 135 Andrew Young International Blvd. NW
In this mural, Benson reimagines Edward Hopper’s painting “Nighthawks.” Whereas Hopper portrays urban isolation, Benson turns the image on its head and instead focuses on joy and community.
“This is probably the most personal mural I’ve ever painted,” Benson said. “When I was younger, my dad used to take me to Waffle House on the weekends, and this moment is a nod to that, but it’s also inspired by Norman Rockwell’s “The Runaway.” I’ve always admired Rockwell’s storytelling through his art. And especially, for this, an image of an adult reassuring a defiant kid who might be a little lost. For my first self-portrait in a mural, I decided to double it: (It’s) myself sitting with a younger version of myself.”
The artist also dropped several Easter eggs into the work. Here is just one example: The first two patrons of the diner on the left are Atlanta’s Grammy Award-winning duo Outkast. In the depiction, Andre 3000 stacks up three creamer cups, alluding to his nickname, “3 Stacks.”
Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs murals
The Office of Cultural Affairs has scattered its 17 new World Cup murals across several neighborhoods.
“Not only do murals beautify public spaces, adding color and interest to our infrastructure, they also communicate our values, represent our communities and tell our stories,” Jefferson said.
These are some of those stories:
Charity Hamidullah
Title: “Wild Seed, Wild Flower”
Location: Windsor Street and Rawson Street SW
This 400-foot-long, 10,000-square-foot collaboration between Hamidullah and Living Walls is Atlanta’s largest commissioned mural. It was inspired by Octavia Butler’s novel “Wild Seed.”
“This is about love; it’s about community; it’s about support and planting the seeds of that for tomorrow and for our future,” Hamidullah said. “Throughout the image, I wanted to illustrate larger than life people carrying out acts of kindness and love.”
Charmaine Minniefield
Location: MLK Jr. Drive at Vine Street NW
This mural remembers Richard and Sarah Allen, founders of the African Methodist Episcopal Church in Philadelphia in 1816. The AME church was the first independent African American denomination, created in response to the racial discrimination found in white-led churches. The first women’s dorm at Morris Brown College was later named Sarah Allen Plaza.
Cienna Minniefield
Title: “Sky of Jumping Stars”
Location: Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard at Bronner Brothers Way SW
This low wall, decked out in blue, green and yellow, spans almost a full block. “It’s about Atlanta and the playfulness and whimsicalness of Atlanta,” said Minniefield (Charmaine Minniefield’s daughter). “I really wanted to uplift the community and show that you can see yourself in the future. You’ll see children jumping and being whimsical. It really reminds me of my childhood — of being an Atlanta native.”
Corey Barksdale
Location: Northside Drive at 17th Street NW
This 429-foot-long panorama by Barksdale traces the history of the formerly enslaved Bland family, who came to be the founders of Atlanta’s Blandtown neighborhood. A train and a trolley represent the transportation industry that employed many in the neighborhood. The mural also shows stock car racing, which was popular among Black Atlantans.
Debbi Snax
Location: Dill Avenue under the railroad bridge at Murphy Avenue SW
The “I Spy” children’s books series inspired this immersive mural. “You know how you’re driving around town and (say) ‘I spy a hydrangea,’ or ‘I spy flame azaleas’ or ‘the building that I know on Dill Avenue?’ It celebrates the strength, the resilience and the identity of these neighborhoods (in Atlanta City Council District 12). It’s something playful for the neighbors to enjoy.”
Kyle Brooks
Title: “The Sidewalk Circus”
Location: Trinity Avenue at Broad Street NW
Brooks, aka BlackCatTips, was using a 5-gallon Lowe’s bucket as an impromptu stool as he brushed color onto his mural, which he was refreshing. “This mural was based on some sculptures I saw in Bogota, Columbia. And that gave me the idea to draw each kind of sculpture and maybe the insides of the sculpture. And then it’s all mixed together, with kind of the spirit of a circus,” he said.
Larkin Ford
Title: “The Golden Thicket”
Location: Freedom Parkway at Ralph McGill Boulevard NE
“If a pedestrian walks down the path, they start out in the dark woods following a serpentine vine of poison ivy that weaves between briars and stones down the hill,” Ford said of his mural. “As the wall’s height increases, the violet forest parts to reveal a spacious sky and an array of plant life from distant trees to larger-than-life ferns, dandelions and shelf fungus.”
Melissa A. Mitchell
Title: “Trefoil Trail”
Location: 17th Street at Bishop Street NW
Former Girl Scout Melissa A. Mitchell produced her mural in collaboration with the Atlanta Girl Scouts, enlisting more than 100 of them to help complete the design. The wall is around a quarter mile long, about the length of 2,500 boxes of Samoas placed end to end. “Not only will we have soccer balls on the wall, we’ll have flags from every country represented and we’ll have the Girl Scouts’ trefoil on there, too. And you’ll see one of my subtle ways to connect everyone involved is to have a white bouncing line and a small green stripe.” Mitchell also painted a second mural, with an abstract design, a block to the west on 17th Street.
Nailah Smith
Location: Spelman Lane at Northside Drive NW
“This mural is for all the HBCUs,” Smith said as she applied finishing touches. “Throughout the mural, there are different elements that represent the effect of the city on the schools and the effect of the schools on the city.” The artwork features students at desks, at an HBCU student center, in Piedmont Park, in front of a chalkboard teaching one another and on MARTA.
Sarah Emerson
Titles: Mural 1: “Home.” Mural 2: “Do No Harm”
Location: Pollard Boulevard at Ralph David Abernathy Boulevard SW
Emerson’s pair of 200-foot-long murals are a love letter to Atlanta, the “City in a Forest.” “I do have a little bit of a shoutout to the city name,” Emerson said. “Of course, there’s a highway running through all the foliage and the flowers because you can’t be in Atlanta without driving.” The Botanical Garden’s Earth Goddess topiary crowns mural 1, while a boulder with the inscription “Do No Harm” is the focus of mural 2.
Trudy Tran
Title: “Rebirth”
Location: 740 Sydney Marcus Blvd. NE
“This mural in Buckhead features historical residential buildings from the old Buckhead neighborhoods,” Tran said. “It also features floral elements found in the community gardens in Buckhead, and then there’s people of different cultures and diversity to show Buckhead’s wide demographic. There’s also a Phoenix featured to show Atlanta’s resilience and growth.”
Other Office of Cultural Affairs murals
These Office of Cultural Affairs-sponsored murals were started after this story was written. Each one is now underway or completed:
- Ashley Dopson — Bolton Road southwest of Marietta Road NW (in progress)
- Brianna Gardocki — Peachtree Street and Alabama Street SW (completed)
- Catlanta — Forsyth Street Bridge near Five Points MARTA station (nearing completion)
- Mr. Totem — Hill Street south of Decatur Street SE (halfway done)
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Arthur Rudick created the Atlanta Street Art Map in 2017 after retiring from a career as an engineer with Eastman Kodak and the Coca-Cola Co. His first art experience was viewing an Alexander Calder mobile as a child in the Pittsburgh airport. Rudick is ArtsATL’s street art expert and a regular contributor.
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