Wall to Wall: Living Walls brings art to public spaces

By Collin Kelley
INtown Editor

Chances are, if you’ve driven around Intown in the last few years, you’ve seen one of Living Walls’ impressive mural projects. The most recent and high profile mural project was part of the Boulevard Tunnel Initiative that connects the Old Fourth Ward and Cabbagetown. The rainbow-hued, 1,000 foot long mural designed by the artist who calls himself MOMO “fully embodies” the mission of Living Walls, according to the nonprofit’s co-founder and Poncey-Highland resident Monica Campana.

Campana and Blacki Li Rudi Migliozzi founded the organization in 2009. Since then, Living Walls has painted over 100 murals and hosted over 30 lectures and other educational events in Atlanta. Every August, Living Walls holds a conference on street art and urbanism, complete with lectures, film screenings, block parties, gallery shows, bike tours, and a main event, along side smaller more intimate projects called Concepts.

“The Boulevard Tunnel Initiative was one of our most bold and ambitious projects to date,” Campana said. “It brought people out of their cars, out of their houses, into their communities, and prompted interaction with their neighbors and public spaces.”

Campana, a native of Peru, met Migliozzi while she was a student at SCAD Atlanta and he was at Georgia Tech. The friends found common interest and began doing street art together.

“We saw how street art was making an impact on peoples’ lives, so we proposed a show on street art to [art and music space] Eyedrum, who suggested we turn it into a conference,” Campana recalled.

Five years later, Living Walls is attracting local, national and international artists. During this year’s conference, 17 more murals will be created starting Aug. 4.

Living Walls work was recently threatened by a proposed ordinance that would have added more bureaucratic red tape to the creation of mural projects. The outcry from the community over the vague regulations in the ordinance was so strong that the Atlanta City Council has tabled it indefinitely.

Along with plans to bring murals to other parts of the state with the help of the Georgia Council for the Arts, Living Walls is also going global thanks to Google’s Street Art Project. Created by the Paris-based Google Cultural Institute, the project aims to permanently document and street art, which has an indefinite lifespan.

“Our partnership with Google will help further our mission by allowing many different audiences to engage with public spaces around the world,” Campana said.

This year’s Living Walls Conference will be held Aug. 13-17. For more information, visit livingwallsatl.com.