Forward Warrior Festival marks 10 years of murals along Wylie Street

September 9th, 2024

Each year, the walls of Wylie Street are transformed with works of new art during Forward Warrior (Courtesy of Mike Jarrin)

Update: Due to weather, this event has been rescheduled from Saturday, Sept. 14, to Saturday, Sept. 21.

Atlanta’s catching its annual case of mural mania once again with the upcoming Forward Warrior Festival. The all-day creative celebration is Saturday, Sept. 21, in Cabbagetown.

Each year, the walls of Wylie Street are transformed with works of new art, which Peter Atlanta artist Peter Ferrari helps organize. He founded the Forward Warrior Festival and put together an all-star list of artists and muralists to help cover the Wylie Street walls.

Ferrari recently joined “City Lights” managing producer Kim Drobes to discuss the festival.

The festival started as an artist painting performance in the space that is now Ladybird back in 2012, says Ferrari. The project was successful enough that the group was invited to paint murals in Castleberry Hill the year after, and then in 2014, in Cabbagetown.

Cabbagetown was looking for a way to combat the graffiti popping up along the walls of Wylie Street and decided to add a series of murals that covered what were blank walls. The project has since grown into a yearly festival, where Ferrari invites some of the Southeast’s most celebrated muralists to come participate in beautifying the neighborhood.

This year, Ferrari says that the group includes nearly 60 artists, which is quite a spectacle for their tenth anniversary.

More information on the Forward Warrior Festival can be found on the following social media platforms:

https://www.instagram.com/forwardwarrior/
https://www.facebook.com/ForwardWarrior