Dallas — As Dallas pulls to a halt World Cup This summer, one change caused a stir: the sudden disappearance of a giant, beloved downtown mural of swimming whales.
“I see this mural almost every day on my way to school, and then one day they were painting it over,” Katie Rose Cusick said. “It was very shocking to me that it could happen so quickly.”
Work is underway this month to paint over the mural that has adorned two entire walls of a parking garage for nearly 30 years to make room for art related to upcoming World Cup matches. Wayland, the artist who painted the mural, said in a statement that its destruction left him “deeply disappointed.”
“When a piece of art that carries meaning for generations can be erased without dialogue, it raises serious questions about how we value public art and the artists and communities these works were created to serve,” Wayland said.
Cusick and Joshua Hairston, seniors at a local performing and visual arts high school, started a Change.org petition in hopes of raising awareness to protect history and art. The petition has garnered hundreds of signatures so far, including from those who have fond memories of seeing the mural as children.
“If we can’t necessarily save the mural, we’re making sure something like this doesn’t happen again,” he said.
A spokesperson for the region’s World Cup organizing committee said in a statement that they look forward to “unveiling a new piece that embodies this current historical moment and reflects the energy, unity and global spirit surrounding the 2026 World Cup,” adding that “part” of Wayland’s mural will be preserved “as a tribute to its lasting impact on the city.”
Dallas is hosting More World Cup matches than any other sites at the event hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico, with nine matches scheduled to be held at the A.T.&T Stadium in suburban Arlington, home of the Dallas Cowboys. the Retractable roof place It will be called the Dallas World Cup Stadium.
The Downtown Dallas Corporation said in a statement that it was part of early discussions about the mural and confirmed that it was not part of the city’s public art collection before the World Cup organizing committee presented it to the building’s owners. A spokesman for the building’s owners, Slate Asset Management, said Downtown Dallas Inc. The organizing committee approached them earlier this year about donating the wall for a new public art installation by a local artist.
The mural, titled “Whaling Wall 82,” was dedicated in 1999. Wayland has painted more than 100 similar murals known as whaling walls around the world as part of his mission to preserve life in the oceans.
“This was more than just paint on the wall – it was part of my work, along with the Wayland Foundation, to bring people together to protect our clean oceans and waters,” he said.