by Jayne McGinn
images by Jenna Duffy

When I arrived at Feral Child’s mural for The Living Walls Conference on the side of Homegrown, a local Atlanta restaurant, the last rays of the Georgia sun were pounding down on him.

Unable to access the wall directly, Feral was hidden behind a barbwire fence, surrounded by a cluster of damaged cars in the parking lot of an adjacent body shop.

photo © Jenna Duffy

I heard I wouldn’t be able to get back there unless I wanted to be the lunch of a “junkyard” dog. I felt like I was in a Jim Croce song in this strange setting for Feral Child, whose first impression is so peaceful.

The dog wasn’t the only hurdle that Feral had to jump; the Georgia heat cooks like a convection oven, the blistering heat comes from all sides. After half a day outside baking, Feral’s cans were too hot to touch and risked explosion. He was forced to bring them indoors and chill them in a refrigerator before taking them back to his wall in a cooler.

photo © Jenna Duffy

photo © Jenna Duffy