Image
Image Credit
Rebecca Droke / Contributor via Getty Images
Image Alt
Kamala Harris
Image Size
landscape-medium
Image Position
center
Large murals paying homage to civil rights leaders and revered political figures have long been a staple of beautification and social impact across the city of Atlanta. During the 2024 presidential election, artists depictions of Vice President Kamala Harris cropped as campaign advertisements. One in particular was a portrait of the politician, flanked by pink roses against a blue backdrop.
The work of art in question was located in the Historic West End on the side of Soul Vegetarian 1. In total, there were four murals commissioned by the Harris campaign urging people to vote by Election Day. But within days of Harris losing against Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, a contractor was captured on video restoring the wall to its original color. The footage ignited a flood of reactions from people who thought the removal was disrespectful and even indicative of a lack of support for Harris.
However, artist Christopher Clark reassured social media users that neither was the case. He addressed the outrage in an Instagram post. “Before I start getting tagged a 100 million times, the mural of Kamala was only and always meant to be a temporary mural. There’s a video circulating around the internet of it being painted over, which was always the plan,” Clark wrote in his explanation. He noted, “It’s the same exact wall we did the Fight Night mural on about a month before.”
Furthermore, he expressed that hecklers, who assumed the takedown was a result of Harris’ presidential loss, were rejoicing in witnessing the erasure. He said, “The trolls have already been visiting my IG and TikTok pages. They are so happy and joyous to see it come down. But you know what brings me joy? Being able to wake up every day and do what I love for a living. How many people can say that? No matter who won or who you voted for, that mural was a part of history, and I’m proud to have worked on it. On to the next.”
In the comment section, Clark also clarified that he was only one of the artists commissioned. “I don’t make the decision as to how long the murals stay up. I don’t have the info. I just paint, but we go into [it] well aware that it won’t be up for an extended period of time.” In the end, he confidently boasted, “Some people just read about history in books. I actually make it.”
