Kala Hagopian, a local West Philly artist specializing in fine murals, has found a way to mix art and technology in an urban landscape to bring awareness to the tragedy of environmental degradation.

Art, Environmentalism, and Innovation in one not-so-little project springing out of West Philly… Love it.

You may have passed these murals without noticing what goes into them.

A lifelike portrait of a toucan surrounded by geometric shapes stares back at you from the gray walls as you approach. The bird is accompanied with a QR code, which, once scanned, allows you to access behind-the-scenes pictures of the mural as well as information about the animal depicted. For example, a short blurb about the Toucan introduces it as the Chanel-Billed species which can be identified by soft grooves that run down the sides of its iconic beak.

For the Wetlands!

To help convey the importance of protecting these freshwater tidal lands, Kala Hagoplan and her team created multiple murals each representing a different aspect of the ecosystem.

Editor’s Note: Anybody else go to the wetlands for an elementary school field trip and have a boring ass time? Their important but sheesh, not a good field trip… which is why Kala and Team making them look so cool is important!

“Good & Cool” is kind of our umbrella motto for content strategy here, so we really love this project. Double thumbs up.

Amazingly, this Toucan piece is only one of 14 installations across the city!

They’re like Pokémon, you gotta see ‘em all… In a way, you can even “catch them” with the QR code…. ….

HOLD THE PHONE

Does Pokémon owe Hahopian Arts and the Philadelphia ecosystem a butt load of cash?? Let’s call it a million dollars and keep it moving, Pokémon. You’ve probably still got it.

ANYWAY, I’d be remiss, as a former Pittsburgh-er and forever Yinzer, not to mention that some of my favorites of this series are located in the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge. A friendly reminder of home.

One of the depicted birds, The Belted Kingfisher (awesome bird name), depends on hiding out in larger overall population of fish (obviously, since this is literally the king of fishing birds) to catch its food, and as such, is currently being threatened by overfishing.

This mural is hung in conjunction with a large portrait of a bald eagle, one of the most successful conservation stories to date, as a symbol of hope that we can help these animals by protecting their habitats.

The mini murals are spectacular. Colorful, geometrically pleasing, and realistic. It’s renaissance realism meets the pop art style of the culture revolution of the 60s and 70s.

Two bottom lines here:

1. Go check ‘em out! Here’s the list.

2. Art can make a difference in this world! Whether that’s raising money, raising awareness and inspiring action, or simply beautifying our everyday life.

For more information on the Eco Mural Project and on our environment in general, head to Kala’s website, hagopianarts.com, where you can find behind-the-scenes videos of the murals in action.