1105 WEST GOOGLE

One of Tennessee Loveless's largest US murals was created in his home city of Atlanta, GA, in collaboration with Julie Wynn Jones and SMPD for Google's new building. The project, known as "The Love Letter to Atlanta," is located in the heart of Midtown at 1105 West Peachtree Street. This 32-story Class A+ mixed-use trophy tower, owned by Selig Enterprises, contains elements from over 20 artists and 50 local companies. Google occupies 19 floors spanning more than 500,000 square feet in the building, which serves as the company's primary Southeastern hub.

 

For the Love Letter project, Loveless was given the theme "Heading Down the Atlanta Highway." Although the theme was drawn from a B-52's lyric about a road in Athens, Georgia, Loveless took it in a different direction, focusing instead on Atlanta's uniquely complicated highway system. In his own words:

 

"I grew up as a hyperactive, weird, gay ginger kid out in Cobb County in the '90s. I was the first person to come out at my school — which seems noble, at best — but I decided to do it during Cobb County's 'anti-gay resolution,' which caused a massive backlash and made my life miserable and unsafe.

 

Coming from all of that, driving into the city of Atlanta was almost a religious experience. You knew the minute you crossed 285 that you'd be okay — that you could be who you were without the terrifying backlash. Atlanta showed me there was a world where you could be accepted and understood. Because of that stark contrast between county borders, I ran away from home to find the place where I belonged. I ended up going to high school near Little Five Points, and I took the MARTA train there every day.

 

This idea came to me while riding the MARTA to high school in 1995, and it fits perfectly with the chosen theme, 'Heading Down the Atlanta Hwy.

 

That first rush of city pride made me feel connected to Atlanta, like I was part of the city itself. I remember thinking about all the highways and rail lines funneling busy bodies throughout the city, and then it hit me: the function of a city runs parallel to the function of life. The city is like an important organ, the highways and rail lines are its veins, and we're the blood cells running in and out, circulating progress like a symbiotic orchestra. That's when I realized Atlanta is both geographically and symbolically a heart."

 

This intricate piece is Loveless's own love letter to the city he grew up in. Every highway exit within the Atlanta city limits is contained in the mural — embedded both subliminally within the words themselves and floating freely in plain view around them. Loveless carved out a story of the people, places, and moments that made Atlanta such a weird and wonderful place, for himself and for others.