Residents celebrate a new public art corridor in Southeast Atlanta

City leaders and local artists gathered at the aquatic and recreation center in Atlanta’s Adamsville neighborhood to celebrate a series of new public art installations.

The C.T. Martin Natatorium is now the home of a 30-foot-tall sculpture called "The Legacy Monument" created by Atlanta artist Ayokunle Odeleye.

The monument is part of a total of nine major art installations along the Martin Luther King Jr. Drive Innovation Corridor. The pieces are each dedicated to celebrating Atlanta’s civil rights history and honoring local heroes.

Atlanta Mayor Andre Dickens said the art is part of a larger redesign the city has made on the corridor.

“We’re here for art, but we're also talking about how to make sure people are safer crossing MLK, which is which has had its challenges over time," Dickens said.

The redesign included additional pedestrian access, bike lanes and trails for the public to access the art. The changes were a collaboration between Atlanta City Council, the Atlanta Department of Transportation, the Department of Parks and Recreation, and the Mayor’s Office of Cultural Affairs.

OCA executive director Camille Russell Love said the collaborators are also using art as a creative solution to other ongoing challenges.

“The mayor has given me a challenge to address some of the graffiti issues that we have here in the city,” Russell Love said. “So over the summer, we're going to employ young people, to work in some of our recreation centers and develop murals that hopefully depict their experience in their community.”

One of the final murals the young employees create will be placed on the MLK Jr. drive. The corridor will also feature murals on utility boxes and bike racks from emerging artists.