About the Mural

This mural by Justin Wagher [WAGE-er] is called Where I Come From. It’s painted like a black-and-white photograph – textured and realistic, in shades of black, white and grey.

The address, 4139 7th Terrace South, will get you close. This is one of several murals just North of that building, facing the Pinellas Trail.

23 feet high and 65 feet long, the mural was inspired from a black and white photo of a local scene – an array of utility poles connected by a web of power lines.

In the foreground, coming down from the top left, are bushes and trees with spikey white leaves that continue across the bottom and up the right side. In the background, a stormy Florida sky in shades of grey.

Two utility poles are in the center of the image, close to us. Behind them, staggered lines of poles recede into the distance, about five on each side. The poles are connected by a web of power lines. They’re arranged almost in a wave, coming out of the distance on the right, curving toward us in the center, then into the distance again on the left.

The scene is full of atmosphere and the feel of an approaching storm.

The artist’s signature is on the left side of the wall, in white. It’s a stack of white capital letters inside a vertical white rectangle. “W-A” on top, then “G-H,” and at the bottom, the letters “E-R.” Wagher.

Justin Wagher is a graduate of Pinellas County Center for the Arts at Gibbs High School, and one of the youngest working artists in the city. He explains that, “The title, Where I Come From is. . . what I felt home looked like. . . the places and sights I find comfort from, where I find my place to be.

“Ideally, I hope to share a humbling experience, a visual representation of the people and places, the streets and alleys, the often-overlooked surroundings that are St. Petersburg.”

Children from the neighborhood and the children of local business owners helped Justin paint this wall. He is passionate about working with youth.

Justin Wagher’s work can be found around Tampa Bay, in Miami and Kansas City.