Street Art

The neighborhood has decided to fight graffiti with some graffiti-inspired art.  For years, neighbors have complained about graffiti under a bridge that goes over the Atlanta Beltline, some of which contained profanity and personal insults. But for several weeks, artist Peter Ferrari painted a city-commissioned mural that has covered much of those tags.

He said he uses things he sees in the park as inspiration. "I wanted to bring animals into it because this is kind of like a wild life area, wild life habitat," Ferrari said. "I actually saw every one of the animals that is in this mural."

Ferrari spent over five weeks and more than 30 gallons of paint on the project, and hopes graffiti artists won't paint over his work.  "Artists respect other artists and if they are people who appreciate art, they won't want to disrespect it," Ferrari said.

The $8,000 project was made possible by grants from The City of Atlanta and donations from the Collier Hills Civic Association.  Camille Love, the director of the City of Atlanta Office of Cultural Affairs, said that the project was funded in hopes that it would deter future graffiti. "We feel that the positive attention and social media buzz the project is getting will persuade graffiti artists not to tag on the work," Love said.

But Ferrari, who has done graffiti in the past, knows it's a possibility, and supports graffiti in itself. "If it gets people involved in art, I think it's good," Ferrari said. "Hopefully people won't disrespect the art but if it happens it happens."

The series of pictures above were taken over the course of painting the mural by my cell phone.