Artists Partner With One Columbia to Revitalize the City

COLUMBIA, S.C. (WOLO)- A wall on millwood avenue is recently received a facelift.  Local artist Cedric Umoja teamed up with artists from Charleston and Tennessee to paint a mural he says signifies unity.

“I just wanted to see something better for the community, better for the neighborhood, better for the corridor to Downtown Columbia,” said Umoja.

The artists decided to do the project after a community service group began painting the wall about eight years ago but never finished it. Artists helping with the new mural says the updated project will be worth the wait.

“After a long time of hard work and going through the governing bodies of it’s going to happen or it’s not going to happen, it’s not going to happen. We got to do this, we got to do that, dotting all the i’s and crossing all the t’s, it’s finally come, it’s been a great process. Seeing the reaction and seeing people come up to it and being excited about it, it’s very fulfilling,” said Charleston artist Karl Zurfluh.

The artists voluntarily painted and planned the mural but the city’s art and historic district, One Columbia helped the project get completed.

“Over the last year, Cedric has done a lot to fund raise for the project through a crowdfunding campaign, we helped support it in about half to bring him up to the level he needed to make it happen. We facilitated getting different permits or getting different approvals, working with the neighborhood association to make it happen,” said One Columbia Executive Director Lee Snelgrove.

Umoja encourages people who see to the painting to connect with it. “Please come through. Check the mural out. Take as many selfies, post it, they have the murals of Columbia going on, you can tag that, you can tag One Columbia or Cedric Umoja” said Umoja.