Mural 1st piece to promote Five Points ‘creative expression’

Retailer Ace Graham and Birmingham artist Shane B. recently unveiled a large mural they conceived in Five Points South, the first piece in a public art initiative led by the Five Points Alliance.

Unveiled on July 13, the mural — called “Freezing Time” — was executed by Shane B. on a 90-foot-long retaining wall located behind Graham’s boutique, called Alchemy, and Jimmy John’s sandwiches.

Graham said the purpose was “to create something that has people gather and communicate with each other, because we’re all stuck on our phones.”

“We want people to come down and have interactions … while they’re experiencing the mural,” Shane B. said.

An Alliance board member, Graham is working with businesses in the area to identify additional locations for murals.

The public art initiative is part of the Five Points South strategic plan, according to Graham and Steve Alexander, Alliance chairman.

The art will help promote the neighborhood’s legacy “as a community of progressive thought and creative expression,” Alexander said.

The mural behind Alchemy began attracting visitors even before the official unveiling, according to Shane B.

“I like to find dead spaces that people kind of forgot about, spaces that people don’t find appealing at all,” he said. “It gives the entire area a whole new life.”