Today in street art: L5P mural commemorates Atlanta’s 2,000 murals 

As the founder of the Atlanta Street Art Map website, I have been cataloging and mapping street art in Atlanta since 2017. Out of my own personal interest, I have been keeping a running total of Atlanta’s mural count. When the count exceeded 2,000 murals at the end of 2025, I was inspired to document our city’s journey from municipal disdain for street art to having a thriving street art culture with an ArtsATL article published in March titled “Today in street art: Atlanta now has more than 2,000 murals. How did we get here?” 

The article chronicled the history of Atlanta’s street art from the 1980s until today. Going from almost no street art to more than 2,000 murals and sanctioned graffiti pieces is not just history that needs to be documented; it is an achievement that needs to be celebrated. In April, I approached Kelly Stocks, president of the Little Five Points Cultural District, and asked if L5P would like to be part of the celebration. Stocks was all in! 

To commemorate this milestone, in May of this year, the Atlanta Street Art Map website, the Little Five Points Cultural District and the Little 5 Pub teamed up to commission artist Rue Walczak, aka Shadowdancer, to create a mural honoring Atlanta’s 2,000 murals and the artists who painted them.

There’s no better way to applaud Atlanta’s street art than with a piece of street art, and there’s no better neighborhood for a celebratory mural than Little Five Points, one of Atlanta’s premier street art venues. The ideal location for such a milestone mural presented itself in the high-visibility, high-traffic frontage of the Little 5 Pub on Moreland Avenue at Euclid Avenue. This mural — created just in time for the World Cup — also serves as a neighborhood sentinel for Atlanta’s many out-of-town visitors this summer.

Shadowdancer, a 26-year-old Atlanta native and regular visitor to Little Five Points — and frequent contributor to the L5P arts scene — was commissioned for the job in no small part because she is both a muralist and a style writer, embodying two complementary aspects of street art that deserve recognition. Plus, her street cred as a graffiti writer brings the added bonus of respect from the taggers who have been known to go over artwork in the neighborhood. 

“I am extremely grateful for the opportunity to share my art and style with the community,” said Shadowdancer. “The mural was well-received by everyone I spoke to. The entire process was seamless and went without a flaw, despite the rain.”

The Little Five Points Cultural District preserves the neighborhood’s unique identity through public art, creative placemaking and countercultural events. Stocks, who takes pride in promoting Atlanta’s street art history, conducted an extensive survey of the community and found the perfect spot for the mural. “It’s an honor to have this mural in L5P, especially for a project documenting Atlanta’s mural history. Little 5 Points has been creating murals and supporting street  art [since] way before they were considered cool things to do, so this really feels like a full circle moment for the neighborhood.”

Byron Hoffman owns the Little 5 Pub with his brothers and they gave the following input to the project team: “I’d love for the building and the pub to reflect more of a throwback community pub feel. The goal should be to celebrate murals and artists while also helping keep the neighborhood beautiful. Ideally, it encourages pride, connection and respect for the community.” The Hoffman brothers also wanted the mural to feature Little Five Points prominently and to feel both welcoming and positive.

This mural is not the only reason to visit Little Five Points: The neighborhood also boasts numerous street festivals, vintage clothing shops, unique eateries, boutique shops, great people-watching and one of Atlanta’s best collections of street art.

To learn more about the murals in Little Five Points, check out Atlanta Street Art Map’s documentation on the website.

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Arthur Rudick created the Atlanta Street Art Map in 2017 after retiring from a successful career as an engineer with Eastman Kodak and the Coca-Cola Company. His first experience of art was seeing an Alexander Calder mobile as a child in the Pittsburgh airport. Rudick is ArtsATL’s street art expert and a regular contributor.