Cincinnati’s ArtWorks has erected more than 350 outdoor murals across Greater Cincinnati over nearly 20 years.
Most are designed by local artists, aided by teenage apprentices.
In 2025, internationally known artists designed three of its 12 new murals, with all three bringing new recognition or new partners to ArtWorks.
Here’s a look at the three, what they mean to ArtWorks and what ArtWorks hopes they mean for Cincinnati.
‘Commons’ showcases ‘flight and movement’
Pakistani-American artist Shazia Sikander designed “Commons,” located on the back of a former church at 109 W. Court St. Downtown and visible from Central Parkway.
The artist’s first-ever outdoor mural depicts mostly women (along with flowers, a chicken and other winged figures) on a turquoise and royal blue background. The feminine characters “showcase flight and movement,” Sikander said at the mural’s Oct. 24 dedication event, with the overall mural reflecting “the complexities of identity, power, history, autonomy and the right for women to be heard and seen.”
Sikander, now a New Yorker, spent two weeks in Cincinnati painting “Commons” with apprentices.
“Having an artist of her stature build a mentorship with emerging artists in our community is really life-changing for these young artists,” said Colleen Houston, ArtWorks CEO and artistic director.
The mural inspired Wave Pool Art Gallery & Center in Camp Washington to create 17-by-20-inch ceramic tiles depicting a mural motif. It is selling each of the 25 tiles – crafted by local immigrant and refugee women – for $7,500, splitting proceeds with ArtWorks.
‘constellation’ is ‘extension of plurality’
A mural titled “constellation (rumi maki),” located at 2827 Gilbert Ave. in Walnut Hills, also represents several firsts for ArtWorks.
Among them: It was the first time ArtWorks worked with Playhouse in the Park, its first collaboration with Peruvian-American artist william córdova and córdova’s first-ever mural.
The mural depicts quilt-like patterns in various configurations, reflecting córdova’s interests in Afro-Peruvian history and contemporary social structures.
“This effort, like all my work, is an extension of plurality, commonality, landscape and geography,” the artist told ArtWorks ahead of the Aug. 25 dedication of the mural.
The mural’s subtitle, rumi maki, references an ancient Peruvian martial art that combines striking, grappling and throwing moves.
The mural turned the bland exterior of the Playhouse’s scene shop into an eye-catching expanse of color. It also brought ArtWorks an Abbey Mural Prize from the National Academy of Design and a $30,000 grant to support the project.
“It’s the first time that we’ve received that level of national recognition,” Houston said.
‘Fountain of Love’ recognizes Obergefell
“Fountain of Love,” located at 5 Mercer St. in Over-the-Rhine, also represents some firsts for ArtWorks.
For one, the mural celebrates Cincinnati’s contribution to civil rights history. It depicts five couples of various cultural identities to commemorate the 10th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized marriage equality. Former Mercer Street resident Jim Obergefell was the lead plaintiff in the case, having sued Ohio for failing to recognize his marriage to his now-deceased husband, John Arthur.
The mural also represents ArtWorks’ first project with Aley Wild, a queer artist from Australia who designed “Fountain of Love.”
It’s also a first-time tip of the hat to former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley. That’s because the mural includes Downtown’s Fountain Square, where Cranley officiated five same-sex wedding ceremonies on June 26, 2015, the day the Supreme Court ruled in Obergefell v. Hodges.
At the mural’s Oct. 16 dedication, Obergefell said the image captured the queer community’s joy at winning the right to marry. “I hope queer kids, especially those are closeted, see love, acceptance and a potential future for themselves when they view the mural,” he said.
His comments “moved everyone to tears,” Houston said. “What we were celebrating was so much bigger than the mural.”
2025 also brought other murals and a move
In addition to completing notable murals in 2025, ArtWorks also:
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