This story was originally published by the Ledger-Enquirer.
Charity Hamidullah has always been an artist.
She started as a child, and her talent was nourished by teachers who encouraged her to pursue the craft as a career. This encouragement from multiple art teachers helped her ignore the naysayers who said art could only be a hobby.
“I’d heard from the horse’s mouth, in a way, that this could be something that I really survive off of,” Hamidullah told the Ledger-Enquirer.
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
Hamidullah stuck with her passion in a career that’s taken her from New York to Georgia and from tattoos to murals. She now earns her living as an Atlanta-based artist and was recently hired to paint a mural for Highside Market in Columbus, which has begun to open businesses on a rolling basis.
“It’s been a really great process,” Hamidullah said. “And it’s been really beautiful because I feel like it’s been more in-depth than just ‘here’s the mural, create something.’”
From tattoos to murals
Hamidullah began her career as a tattoo artist 18 years ago, and moved to Atlanta 12 years ago.
At 20 years old, Hamidullah believed she couldn’t go any higher in her craft while living in Rochester, New York. And Atlanta was home to the City of Ink tattoo shop. At the time, City of Ink was an African American shop known worldwide, Hamidullah said.
“I really wanted to learn from them,” she said. “I wanted to learn how to put color on all different skin tones. And I came to Georgia just for that.”
Working as a tattoo artist was a beautiful experience, Hamidullah said, and she loved helping clients claim their identities. Transitioning from tattoos to mural making furthered her ability to determine who she was as an artist.
“I wanted a larger canvas,” Hamidullah said. “Some people aren’t looking at skin always. I wanted to create bigger stories for bigger spaces and have a big impact.”
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
By the time Hamidullah began the process of getting the chance to create a mural for Highside Market, a mixed-use development project on 13th Street, she’d painted between about 30 murals.
Hamidullah remembers the first murals she painted. She had her own tattoo shop at the time, and her community would come together and paint in Krog Street Tunnel in Atlanta about once a year.
While painting in the tunnel flowed smoothly, Hamidullah’s first professional experience was nerve-wracking.
“You’re not only out there making a piece,” she said. “You’re making a piece for people who pass by, and you want to make something awesome.”
It took time to grow her confidence and skill. In the beginning, Hamidullah would take about a month to paint a mural. Now she can do it in days.
Her new piece at Highside Market was completed in less than a week.
A mural to represent a community
While developing a concept for the mural, Hamidullah was taken on a tour of Columbus by the Cotton Companies founder Chris Woodruff. The Cotton Companies is the development firm working on Highside Market.
During the tour, Hamidullah was inspired by some of the nature in and around Columbus. She visited Cecil B. Day Butterfly Center at Callaway Resort & Gardens, where around 1,000 butterflies roam freely in a conservatory.
The flow of the Chattahoochee River stuck out to her as an aspect of Columbus that she wanted represented in the piece. But when putting the elements together, it was important to avoid using the typical imagery that represents Columbus.
“That’s like one thing that me and Chris really talked about,” Hamidullah said. “We don’t want (the design) to be so blatant. I like things in there, but I wanted them to be interpreted in so many different ways.”
Credit: Mike Haskey
Credit: Mike Haskey
Her piece consists of brightly colored hands, with details like bracelets and smartwatches on the wrists, reaching up for butterflies fluttering above the group of hands. The river is represented by the flow of how the images are painted.
The hands represent the vision for Highside Market to be an inviting space for all people, Hamidullah said.
“Those butterflies are symbols of change,” she said. “Not only within yourself, but within your community.”
Hamidullah hopes her mural can inspire others to create art in Columbus through murals.
“I think it’s really important for people to understand the power of art,” she said. “And what art can do to not only change the space, but uplift emotions, uplift community, and bring people together through expression.”
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
Credit: Ledger-Enquirer
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