The Decatur Arts Alliance has secured a grant for a new mural under the rail bridge at the intersection of Commerce Drive and College Avenue.
“This proposed design brings a new story and a fresh perspective to an easily overlooked public space that is experienced by thousands of people passing through each day on foot, bicycle and car,” commented Angie Macon, executive director of the Decatur Arts Alliance. “We are so excited about this vibrant new edition to Decatur’s mural portfolio.”
The murals, by artist Killamari, were commissioned in partnership with Living Walls Atlanta, with funding provided by the Laura Calle Grant.
From the artist:
Design A | Female Figure
In this piece I have an Asian, female figure here. I wanted to portray a strong POC, female, character to represent several minority groups. She’s wearing an apsara crown that’s found in Khmer culture with a face shield attached. In Khmer culture, apsaras are angelic figures and dancers. I tried to give her the movement and energy of a dancer through the use of long flowing lines and shapes. I wanted to do the face shield to represent the state of the world right now, while using something I felt was less on the nose as a face mask would be. It also allows us to fully see her face and connect with her. The word bubble is her speaking of love and the Magpie bird on her hat is a symbol of joy and happiness. Throughout the rest of the piece I include other metaphors or bits of Asian and African culture. The neck rings are found in Kayan culture and some African cultures as well. The large gauge earring is also an element found both in Asian and African cultures. The large pencil just represents my love of drawing and making art. The red feathers represent phoenix feathers, and phoenixes are signs of rebirth and rising from the ashes in many cultures.
The color choices for this design came from taking the color yellow, often associated with Asian people, and mixing that into red, white, and blue. The resulting colors are my metaphoric color scheme for being Asian American.
Design B | Male Figure
With this figure the intention was to represent the LGBTQ+ community. He/she has a non distinct skin tone because here the focus is not on race but the other identities that make someone a minority. The colors chosen for this piece were pulled from the pan-sexual Pride flag. Pan-sexual is someone not limited in sexual choice with regard to biological sex, gender, or gender identity. The clown fish sitting on the hat, is an example of a gender-bending animal in nature. They have the ability to change from male to female. We begin to mirror some elements here from the previous design. We see the face shield used again here. Elements in the hat will also mirror the details in the female figure’s crown. With the large earring, this time using a space rocket. The space rocket is supposed to represent the feeling of not belonging here. Some people experience the feeling that they aren’t normal, or don’t belong; on the flip side some people are proud but are treated as if they aren’t normal or don’t belong. The stars and asteroids continue the space related imagery and relates to us all being made of the same star dust, we’re all equal, and we’re all in this together.