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Detroit marks 100th mural painted by local artist Waleed Johnson

City Walls Program aimed at bringing beauty to neighborhoods
Posted at 8:33 AM, Oct 17, 2021
and last updated 2021-10-17 08:33:27-04

(WXYZ) — A program to beautify metro Detroit is all set to achieve a new milestone this week as the 'City Walls' initiative gets ready to unveil its 100th Mural on the east side.

The program, which started back in 2017 aims to transform graffiti-covered viaducts and vacant building walls covered with beautiful murals.

As the stunning new six-story mural titled the spirit, gets its final touches, local artist Waleed Johnson says while growing up in Detroit, art like this played a significant role in his life.

"I’ve seen some murals when I was younger, and I didn’t know how much they impacted me until some of them were torn down and what’s cool to me is like this could potentially do the same thing for another kid," Johnson said.

Johnson's mural depicts an African American woman adorned in the City of Detroit flag and holding the gold sun.

The inspiration started over four years ago after taking a portrait of his friend and exploring the idea with his fiancé to make it about a celebration of black women.

"I started thinking about being raised by a single black woman all the black women I’ve seen in the community around me and really holding it together and I was like what if reinterpret the spirit of Detroit as a black woman and kind of honor the contributions black women have made," he added.

For Johnson, the necklace has taken a bit longer to paint than usual but getting it right also holds significance.

"That’s an African necklace and you know the African American community has roots in Africa, so I feel like it all fits in," says Waleed Johnson.

Johnson has given himself a deadline to finish the Mural latest by this Friday, which can be spotted on the side of a storage building at Mack and Van Dyke.

To check out other murals across metro Detroit, head over to https://detroitmi.gov/news/mayor-marks-100th-mural-city-walls-program-aimed-bringing-beauty-neighborhoods