City of Decatur
Decatur, GA
70x6x6′
There’s a pedestrian tunnel across the street from Agnes Scott College. It sits under train tracks that run through the City of Decatur and connects two parts of really walkable areas. It’s used every day by students from the nearby middle and high schools, Agnes Scott, and the people who live in the area.
The City had wanted to improve the experience of using the tunnel for years, because it was a really intimidating place. It wasn’t well-lit or really maintained, so it posed a public safety concern. They wanted to clean it up, add new lights, and install a mural.
The city wanted to install a mural because part of that foreboding feeling was the graffiti there. I honestly questioned whether I wanted to be a part of taking away that graffiti safe haven. I loved the graffiti. It made it the city’s own mini Krog Street tunnel. But, I live in Decatur, I’m in this community, and I use that tunnel myself. So, I wanted to contribute in some way.
On that first day of installation, right after the walls were buffed, I overheard students on separate occasions lamenting that the tunnel was being sanitized and “gentrified.” I immediately questioned what I was doing, because those comments reinforced my misgivings. It felt like I was taking away some of the flavor from the city.
There was one point during the week, when school was letting out, I stepped away from the tunnel to allow kids to pass through, and a bunch of skate punks ran by, cursing what was happening. I cringed so hard because it dawned on me, in that moment, that I was an agent of “the establishment,” “the man,” and that my younger self, me when I was the very same skate punk, who rebelled against any form of authority, would have hated the new mural, too. That was a fun dose of irony.
But, as I continued working, the youngest middle schoolers and the Scotties would excitedly share that they felt safer and happier in the tunnel, that they were no longer creeped out and they didn’t fear being assaulted. They would give me thank-yous and high-fives. I’d see the same people everyday and I started to witness, directly, the impact of what I was doing, and how I was helping to enrich my community.