Arts organization WonderRoot will partners with MARTA and The TransFormation Alliance, a collaboration among community advocates, policy experts, non-profit and for-profit developers, transit providers and government agencies, to launch En Route, a program designed to install public art in select MARTA transit stations.
Artist Fahamu Pecou will create four murals throughout the rail system that explore issues of access, mobility and public transportation. The first installation will be at the King Memorial MARTA Station, followed by Oakland City MARTA Station, Hamilton E. Holmes MARTA Station, and a station to be named on a later date.
Currently a Ph.D. student at Emory University’s Institute of Liberal Arts, Pecou is a visual artist who works to combine observations on hip-hop, fine art and popular culture, addressing concerns regarding the contemporary representation of black masculinity. His work is featured in national and international collections including Smithsonian National Museum of African American Art and Culture, The High Museum of Art, Societe Generale (Paris), among others.
Funds for En Route come in part from a prestigious $50,000 grant awarded by the National Endowment for the Arts, in partnership with Fulton County Arts and Culture, and additional support from the Georgia Council for the Arts.
“The En Route program and partnerships are an exciting opportunity to use public art as a tool to celebrate and strengthen Atlanta’s communities by improving the transit experience,” says MARTA GM/CEO Keith T. Parker. “The arts are a key component of our long-term vision to make MARTA an attractive mode of transportation.”