CAIRO- Downtown Cairo was in full swing on Friday night as the City unveiled its new mural, designed by winning graphic artist Nicole Jordan.
The mural was made possible through a grant from the Georgia Council for the Arts. While attending a More than Murals Workshop in Thomasville, the Georgia Council for the Arts had each city design an initiative they would like to take back to their community. Following the design, cities were then surprised on the last day with the funding to make it possible.
For Cairo’s design, City of Cairo Tourism Director Shelly Searcy wanted artists to submit renderings of mural paintings they would create on the side of Strands Salon.
“We had close to 20 people submit their artwork,” Searcy said. “We had quite a few from the region, but also people who were nationally renowned submitting their artwork.”
The number of submissions exceeded Searcy’s expectations, and she was thrilled to announce Jordan was the overall winner.
“We loved Nicole’s style and her use of color,” Searcy said. “She had a lot of things about Grady County that people wouldn’t know unless they lived here. I think that’s one of the reasons she won.”
Jordan currently lives in Thomasville but grew up in Cairo.
When the opportunity presented itself to create a mural for the City of Cairo, Jordan jumped on it, hoping to pay homage to the place that impacted her upbringing.
Jordan’s mural features what she refers to as “hidden eggs,” which are personal tidbits that played a role in her life while living in Cairo.
“The owner of the building, I worked with when I was starting out and we created a brand, which I stuck on the mural,” she explained about the “hidden eggs.” “It’s a lot of personal stuff; my best friends are the Livingstons and they are who the motocross portion represents.”
The Livingston’s son passed away when Nicole was in her young teens, and felt this was a great way to honor him, as he was the only brother she ever knew.
Overall, Jordan was happy with the way she was able to represent the Livingston family and her roots.
However, now she’s not sure what to do with her time.
“It kind of feels like you ran the Olympics and now you have to figure out what to do with your time,” she joked. “I don’t know what’s next, but maybe this will put me on the map to doing a lot bigger things.”
Previously, Jordan said she had created all types of graphic designs for stickers, smaller paintings, and products, but never something of this large scale.
Jordan said she submitted her rendering on June 29, which was the deadline. She was later notified in October that she was the winner. After winning, the City and Jordan modified the original rendering to include a few more details, before she began in November, working consecutively for over a month to create a piece of art that residents would love.
Jordan hopes this mural will kick off more public art pieces in Cairo, as she knows Searcy has also been working to bring more murals into town.
Jordan has a vision of recreating a vintage mural across from the railroad tracks, adding a new twist. She has made it clear though she doesn’t want Cairo to just reflect her artistic vision; she wants other artists to be inspired to create their own public artwork.
Searcy has the same goal.
“More than anything, I just want it to spur being artistic and thinking more artistically,” she said. “I don’t think many communities really realize what a mural can do for them and what art can do for you. Bringing more art into our downtown brings more life.”
The mural is available for viewing at 135 N. Broad St. and has QR codes that can be scanned to direct interested individuals to landmarks throughout Cairo.