Project Overview
Basin Portraits | Art & Environment | Uptown
In 2019, Khara Woods met with Uptown residents, business owners, and city officials to discuss their environmental concerns. She found that litter was a major problem in the areas—in particular, trash collects at the large fenced-in stormwater drainage basins and flows into the river. Woods collected data on the volume and variety of litter and studied its path into the waterway. This information was directly incorporated into her mural, which is a brightly-colored geometric pictograph with water droplets and other icons representing the data. An interpretive sign explains these symbols and provides information about the research. The mural is installed on the MATA building that towers dramatically over the storm basins.
Woods’ mural was produced through the Art + Environment Initiative, a program that UrbanArt Commission launched in 2018, funded by a capacity-building grant from Mural Arts Philadelphia. UAC partnered with Clean Memphis and MMDC (Memphis Medical District Collaborative) in the creation of two projects that use public art to address an environmental opportunity or situation in two neighborhoods: Uptown and Frayser. Khara Woods was selected to lead the project in Uptown, while artist Jamond Bullock was chosen to work with residents in Frayser. Read more about his project here.
About the Artist
Khara Woods
Khara Woods is a graphic designer and artist from Memphis, Tennessee. She graduated in 2003 from The University of Memphis with a Bachelor of Arts in journalism. She decided to move west to Anaheim, CA shortly after, where she studied graphic design at Westwood College. In 2005, Woods earned an Associate of Science in graphic design and multimedia. After two years in California, the artist returned home to Memphis, which she says is “one of the coolest, culturally-rich cities I know!”
Her work is largely inspired by geometric abstraction and pop art. Since 2015, she has created and collaborated on a number of murals and public art projects in Memphis, TN. Her latest murals and light installation can be seen at Cornelia Crenshaw Library in South City. The city’s mosaics of art, music, and recently, its signage from yesteryear, provide a steady stream of inspiration for Woods. She has worked for several local companies and individuals such as Collage dance Collective, Broad Avenue Arts District, ArtsMemphis, and folk artist NJ Woods, to name a few. In her free time, she combs the city searching for and documenting signage and eclectic examples of found typography.
