Street artist creates mural tribute to UNC Charlotte shooting victims

CHARLOTTE, NC (WBTV) - Monday, street artist Shane Pierce, known as ‘Abstract Dissent,’ put final touches on his latest work.

“It’s just a reaction to wanting to do what I do, and see if it helps,” he says.

A reaction, that is, to the shooting on UNC Charlotte’s campus that killed two people and hurt four more.

Pierce says it made him mad.

“After that goes away it’s like, ‘What can I do to help?’” he says.

He started designing the spray-painted mural that night.

“Somebody hashtagged ‘#Charlotte Strong,’” Pierce says. “And I’m like, that’s it.”

The newly-completed mural features those words, woven into the school’s logo, along with two hearts.

“For the two that lost their lives,” the artist says.

And six tear drops.

“For all the victims.”

It is his second mural of this kind in less than a year for the Charlotte area, after a mural for Butler High School in Matthews, where one student was shot and killed, back in October.

“I feel helpless when something like that happens,” Pierce says. “And it’s kind of like well, I can offer my art, that’s all I have.”

Pierce does murals for schools regularly across the region, showing their school pride.

And while he hopes he won’t have to do anymore of this kind, his hope is also that this art can help someone who needs it.

“If I can shed a little light on maybe some positivity or get more people to look at...to be a little more positive after something so horrible, that’s a win to me,” he says.

Pierce is talking with UNC Charlotte to try to place the art somewhere on campus. If that doesn’t work out, he says he’s considering auctioning it off, with 100 percent proceeds to those impacted by the shooting.

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