Heartbeat & Soul explores the pulse that keeps the city alive and the soul that endures through the generations. The densely layered mural is formed by Eric Okdeh’s mosaics of recycled glass and mirror, blended with Jamond Bullock’s painted vignettes. The colorful imagery alludes to the industries that have sustained Memphis throughout its history—healthcare, education, and the arts—interlaced with aerial views of local landmarks and street maps. The mural features familiar places and people including the University of Memphis, Clayborn Temple, Ashlar Hall, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, and the Beale Street Flippers. The inclusion of blooming irises, sprouts in a child’s cupped hands, and other natural elements suggests notions of growth and longevity, as a people and a city.
The mural is a collaboration between Memphis-based artist Jamond Bullock and Eric Okdeh, an artist based in Philadelphia. Their partnership has connected two cities known for public art and storytelling, while the inclusion of symbols such as the pyramid relates Memphis’s unique history to a broader global context. Memphis has long been a place formed by migration, a history invoked by the artist’s inclusion of a dragonfly—a migratory insect and symbol of transformation, adaptation, and self-realization.
Jamond Bullock was born and raised in Memphis, and received a BA in Fine Art from LeMoyne-Owen College in 2008. Primarily working in acrylic, Bullock’s style is colorful, loose, and expressive. He is best known for his murals throughout the city, many of which incorporate historical and community themes. He says his purpose in life is to “create and spread artistic vision throughout the world.” He is also a performance painter under the name Alive Paint.
Eric Okdeh began creating public art in 1998. After receiving his BFA in painting from Tyler School of Art, Okdeh chose to focus exclusively on socially engaged public art. He has facilitated art and mural making workshops in a wide array of communities, working with teens and adults, incarcerated men, and people in recovery programs. Okdeh has over 150 public art commissions throughout the northeast United States, as well as murals in Hawaii, Spain, Jordan, and Norway. As a staff artist with Mural Arts Philadelphia, he collaborated with Jamond Bullock through the District Mural Program and Art + Environment, both joint initiatives of UrbanArt Commission and Mural Arts.
