Portrait of a leader: Monica Campana of Living Walls

In the early aughts, Atlanta’s art scene was on the cusp of an explosion of creativity, marked by plentiful DIY art spaces and innovative arts initiatives across the city. Up-and-coming artists cultivated an altogether new creative ecosystem through festivals, pocket galleries and a burgeoning street art scene.

One such creative undertaking that got its start in those days was Living Walls, the City Speaks, which was founded in 2009 by local creatives Monica Campana and Blacki Migliozzi. They dreamed up a street art exhibition which quickly grew in scope and hosted their first ever street art conference in 2010. Now, 15 years later, Campana still serves as the organization’s executive director and continues to push forward the mission through intentional, thought-provoking public art.

Over the years, Atlanta’s street art scene has garnered national — and even international — attention. Living Walls is undeniably a major driver of that change. With a mission that centers around creating opportunities and increasing visibility of artists of color, women and those within the LGBTQIA+ community, they develop and produce street art projects that ensure a more equitable future for the industry. Since their founding, they have facilitated more than 500 murals in Atlanta and beyond. 

For Campana, the desire to start Living Walls was sparked from a desire to find a place for herself here and to see more opportunities for marginalized artists within the local street art scene. Originally from Lima, Peru, Campana moved with her family to Orlando, Florida, when she was 15 years old. “I didn’t want to come here,” said Campana of her experience moving to the States. As a teen living in Florida, she recalled feeling depressed, sad and lost. 

“I’ve always felt,” said Campana, with emphasis. “I’ve always felt a lot. I feel like I have big, tender emotions. That can lead me into being someone that has a lot of empathy and also someone with a lot of drive — or fire.”  

Years later, after moving to Atlanta and starting and stopping classes at SCAD and the Atlanta College of Art, she finally found her footing outside, on the streets, with street art. In those days, street artists relied on Flickr to communicate and share their works, and Campana found the community to be tight-knit but also welcoming.

Campana’s early forays into public art were wheatpastes created with friends which she described as “very girly, all hand-drawn,” and it didn’t take long for her to notice the way that those works stood out against the background of traditional graffiti and style writing. Ironically, as Campana and Migliozzi launched Living Walls, she had to step back from her own art to focus on building the brand, but she doesn’t hold any regrets for that choice. 

“I’m glad that’s how it happened. There were a lot of things that I wanted to do with other artists in this city. The journey — it has now been 15 years — it has in many ways saved my life,” said Campana. “Living Walls gave me a purpose, made me feel seen and like I belonged. I hope that’s something that other artists have experienced with the work that Living Walls did and continues to do.” 

While dreaming up the idea of Living Walls, Campana and Migliozzi spent many days looking at walls and abandoned buildings throughout the city, imagining them filled with art. As they contributed to the transformation of these forgotten surfaces into vibrant artworks, Campana became aware of the true power of public art to connect people and inspire interaction with the spaces they inhabit. She felt the rising momentum of the street art movement under their feet and knew that something big was coming. 

Though Living Walls’ story has been one of exponential growth, from a grassroots movement to an international success story, it hasn’t always been an easy path.

The Beltline was just beginning to come together, and, in those days, the city of Atlanta had an anti-graffiti task force. She faced discrimination and disrespect, recalling meetings where people overlooked her contributions, talked down to her and even spoke loudly and slowly as if she couldn’t understand English. And yet, in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, Campana and Migliozzi founded a street art exhibition which quickly expanded into a mural conference complete with live painting, lectures and programming at Eyedrum. 

“I don’t think we went into this understanding just how much of an impact it was going to have on the city,” said Campana. “We were just doing it because we believed in it, and people also believed in it. And it worked.”

From the jump, Living Walls has endeavored to build a sustainable structure that would fairly pay artists and encourage collaborations between artists, communities, local leaders and companies. In the early days, they relied heavily on donations and volunteers. Campana pins much of the organization’s early success on the support of the numerous helpers who assisted the artists and organizers. She recalled their 2013 conference, when artists painted 15 murals over the course of 10 days. During that time, the Living Walls crew was able to feed, house and provide essential volunteer support to all of the artists, thanks to the generosity of businesses owners and community members.

In the years since, the Living Walls team has built the organization to the point where they can fairly pay all muralists and even cover travel expenses, both for local artists painting abroad and international artists who come to Atlanta to paint new works. 

What truly sets Living Walls apart — beyond its innovative programming that unites social justice causes, grassroots social organizations and the community — is its commitment to promoting voices that are otherwise sidelined in mainstream street art culture. 

“We really aim to give a platform and the space to artists who historically have not been given that opportunity, and we are also trying to share the stories of people that have been othered their whole life and put it on the streets.” At Living Walls, they focus on building up artists of color, women, immigrants and queer artists by not only providing paying work but also teaching artists how to create budgets and navigate new contracts. “We want to make sure that there is an actual public art ecosystem.”

Campana says that now in their 15th year, the Living Walls team is the healthiest it has ever been. “Our team is beautiful,” she said. Two recent appointments mark the continued evolution of Living Walls. 

Local artist and interaction designer Tatiana Bell was recently appointed as creative director and acts as the visionary curator and storyteller for the organization. Project Manager Angela Bortone brings extensive experience in large scale art production and scenic painting and has been involved with Living Walls as an artist assistant and site manager since 2019. The team now maintains an office space at the Goat Farm, and they are preparing for a Quinceañero fundraiser on September 13. 

Meanwhile, with the infusion of fresh voices and logistical support from Bell and Bortone, Campana is finding the time and energy to devote to her own artwork again. A lifelong illustrator, she began painting on clothes around three years ago and received positive feedback which lent her much-needed validation. She also said that a recent ceramics class she took under K.Tauches, also known as House of TAU Ceramics, changed her life. “I believe this woman has, like, healing powers,” she said with a laugh. “I immediately fell in love with the medium.” 

As a process-based medium, ceramics require the artist to embrace the experience of making art while letting go of the result. “There’s a certain kind of magic that humans have, to think of something and then get this idea from your brain into your hands and have your hands either draw it, paint it or build it. That’s very special.” To dream up an idea, create something new out of clay and then put it in the kiln without knowing for sure that it will survive the process has been healing to Campana. 

“It’s a lot like the work I was doing in the beginning with street art,” she explained. “You’d not know if it would stay up or come down the next day. You kind of put it out in the world and you let go. That’s a lot, to me, of what ceramics is. I’m also literally playing with earth and glass. It makes me feel very connected to this world.” Through her ceramic works, Campana embraces “the magic of making and touching and feeling and then letting go and trusting in the gods that the work will actually come out right.”

Campana’s ceramic works are currently included in two exhibitions — Community Care group exhibition curated by Charity Hamidullah on view through July 9 at Hidden Gallery; and Compelled, a group exhibition by Better Ruins at Spectrum on Spring, which debuts June 27 and runs through July 13.