Celebrating the Art of Community in Southwest Atlanta

Ear­li­er this year, the Atlanta Civic Site team part­nered with area res­i­dents and Won­der­Root, a local non­prof­it arts and ser­vice orga­ni­za­tion, to cre­ate a pub­lic art instal­la­tion along south­west Atlanta’s Uni­ver­si­ty Avenue cor­ri­dor, where the Foun­da­tion owns a 31-acre site.

“We live in four com­mu­ni­ties with young, old, white, black,” said Randy Gibbs, a res­i­dent of NPU‑V’s Adair Park neigh­bor­hood who served on the advi­so­ry com­mit­tee for the project. ​“We are Atlanta. We have pride in our com­mu­ni­ties and want that…to inform the artwork.”

Six months of plan­ning, select­ing and design­ing cul­mi­nat­ed in the unveil­ing of three 20-foot pan­els fea­tur­ing sculp­tur­al reliefs that depict the vibrant his­to­ry of sur­round­ing com­mu­ni­ties. Local sculp­tor Fred Ajanogha served as lead artist in its design and cre­ation, with the sup­port of area res­i­dents Eddie McBride and Katlin Rothacher.

More than 600 peo­ple attend­ed the July 12 unveil­ing of the instal­la­tion dur­ing the Foundation’s Art of Com­mu­ni­ty event, which fea­tured live dance and music per­for­mances, as well as games for chil­dren. Atlanta City Coun­cilmem­ber Joyce Shep­erd pre­sent­ed James Bridges, a long­time Pitts­burgh res­i­dent and mem­ber of the advi­so­ry com­mit­tee, with a procla­ma­tion for his exten­sive ser­vice in the community.

The art­work will remain dis­played along the fence line of the Foun­da­tion site, which is locat­ed between Uni­ver­si­ty Avenue, the gate­way to many South Atlanta neigh­bor­hoods, and a nar­row, raised bank slat­ed to become part of the Atlanta Belt­Line, a 22-mile trail and tran­sit loop around the city. Learn more about the project in this sto­ry from Atlanta’s NPR sta­tion, WABE.