There’s a joyful new work of art that peers over the coffee shops and galleries lining Asheville's River Arts District.
The mural, titled “Black Boy Joy,” was unveiled Friday as the latest addition to the Asheville Black Cultural Trail, a network of public markers and artwork honoring the people and places that have shaped the city’s Black history.
Tommy Lee McGee, the lead artist behind the piece, said he designed it after noticing that Black and brown joy is rarely highlighted in Asheville’s public murals.
The central figure is “a beautiful, excited, happy, joyful black boy,” he said. “He's in the middle of his own garden that he's watering.”
McGee, who works under the name Sir Tom Foolery, collaborated with local artists Gus Cutty and Kathryn Crawford to paint and assemble the installation, which had to be “hoisted, piece by piece” 60feet high to be placed on the building’s tall brick walls.
The mural is composed of large sheets of painted plexiglass installed on the brick wall of Glen Rock Apartments, located at 372 Depot Street. Flowers, glowing orbs and a large tropical bird surround the child, while the sun forms a crown around his head.
The project is months-in-the-making, McGee told BPR, and is a response to the limited ways Black boys are often portrayed in art and popular culture.
“Black boys don’t always have to be hard and thugs and aggressive,” he said. “You can be in the midst of beauty and exhibit beauty and exhibit joy.”
The new installation is a counterpart to one installed last year called “Black Girl Magic.” The trail is funded by a $500,000 grant from the Buncombe County Tourism Development Authority’s Tourism Product Development Fund.
The Asheville Black Cultural and Heritage Trail launched in 2023 and includes 14 stops and 20 interpretive panels across neighborhoods in Asheville, including downtown, Southside and the river area. The trail plans to add a third and final installation on South Market Street this winter.
