Jordyn White, a 2019 Florida A&M University graduate, decided to highlight the importance of Black lives through a very inspirational mural in Metro Atlanta.
With the current state of the Black community and the Black Lives Matter movement, White wanted to lift up the community through her art.
“I wanted to spread positivity with the statement, Black Lives Are …,” White said. “I asked myself and my family how does it feel to be Black?”
White had her family members describe the Black race and culture. She came up with a long list of words and eventually narrowed it down to seven words: proud, resilient. Iconic, bold, innovative, authentic and worthy.
White decided to display these adjectives through a childhood game to make the artwork more appealing.
“We displayed these words on the mural through the old childhood game of telephone,” White said. “The game begins with one person starting a message in hopes that the message will be passed correctly through several people. The message is often distorted by the time the game ends. In our project the message is distorted but remains positive throughout.”
A friend of White, Lori Smith, was one of the people who assisted her with putting this project together. It took them about a week to finish the entire mural.
“We officially started the project on August 25,” White said. “Prior to that date we spent about two weeks brainstorming and drafting ideas. We finished the project in five days.”
Skylor Davis, a third year journalism student from Atlanta, was excited to see the mural being done in her home city.
“It’s always nice to see a FAMU alumna paying tribute to her community,” Davis said. “I was definitely happy to see that the mural was in Metro Atlanta.”
White says that her dad actually gave her the idea for the location for the mural. “My father is the City of Decatur Director of Active Living and spends his extra time trying to remove graffiti within the city,” White said. “For a long period of time the electrical box we painted was tagged with graffiti. We thought that with painting the box the graffiti would cease.”
The location of the project is at the intersection of East Ponce De Leon Avenue and Sycamore Street. It’s right in front of the MARTA bus station.
Atlanta native, and a senior journalism student at FAMU, Kaela Moore, thought that White placed the piece of artwork in the perfect place.
“There are so many people that must travel to and from that bus station every day,” Moore said. “Someone can have a bad morning and get inspired by a piece of art on their way to work.”
The ribbon-cutting ceremony for this mural was held on Sept. 1. Since the reveal of this project White has received positive feedback from family and friends, and through social media.