Wall of Respect – Chicago Cultural Center, North Garland Court, Chicago, Illinois, United States

On December 4, 2017, the Chicago Cultural Center unveiled a new mural titled "Rushmore." It was commissioned for $1 dollar and created by Chicago’s own contemporary art icon, artist Kerry James Marshall. The mural was a part of Chicago’s Year of Public Art, a year-long initiative that spearheaded multiple commissions for new public art in each of the City’s 50 wards.

The mural celebrates 20 Chicago women who changed the artistic and cultural landscape of the city. Located on the western façade of the center, the 132-foot mural turns what was once bare limestone into a testament to some of the city’s most influential women who shaped its culture, including Joan Gray, Lois Weisburg, Jackie Taylor and Oprah Winfrey. "They are really the backbone, the spine, the spirit, the heart. They are really what it means to make culture in Chicago," the artist said at the mural’s unveiling.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel described the mural as "a tremendous gift for the city," from "one of the most renowned artists in the world today. "This piece is going to capture, I think, the imagination not only of the city but the country and put Chicago in its rightful place as a city of public art." The artist is internationally renowned, with his work fetching ever higher prices in the global art market. Here at home, Marshall’s Still Life with Wedding Portrait sold for $5.04 Million during the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago’s Benefit Art Auction last month. The painting depicted abolitionist Harriet Tubman at her wedding. Marshall described the $1 commision fee for the mural as an act of "civic obligation" (the mural was funded by Murals of Acceptance, a not-for-profit whose goal is to bring art to all peoples in a free, public setting.) He also reminisced that the project is a very personal return to his roots, because his first exhibition was held at the Chicago Cultural Center.