When The University of Memphis decided to make use of the blank space on the walls surrounding The University Center construction area, The U of M art department answered their call.
Students may call the colorful letters and designs that now deck the walls near the bookstore graffiti.
But students and artists from around the country call it "Soul Food II."
Conceived earlier in the spring, the project was a piece of passion for some art students who have decided to focus their work on the hip-hop culture. Or at least that was the case for Leigh Anne Black, a junior art major, who claims the influence stemmed from listening to hip-hop music and break dancing.
"It's a difficult medium actually," she said referring to graffiti. "I didn't understand it."
Through her interest for hip-hop and support from her boyfriend, a graffiti artist, she found interest in another art form.
This spring, the space planning department at The University approached the art department with a project in mind. The department contacted art professor Cedar Nordbye and told Black and another student about the project proposal.
Staff in the art department said Nordbye and his students decided on a graffiti project.
The result was an array of shades of multiple colors and giant letters on the wooden fence that is now surrounding The University Center's demolition site.
Fred Alberson, the chair of the art department, said initially The University had a few oppositions, but things eventually got underway.
Beginning in mid-June, more than 20 graffiti artists came in from out of town and began helping Nordbye's students work on "Soul Food II." Some of the artists came from Nashville, Alabama and Texas, to name a few.
The University provided the material, but the rest of the crew came "because that's something they wanted to do," Alberson said.
But sooner or later, the wooden fence will have to come down. Black is not disappointed despite spending five or six extra days outside spray painting in heat and humidity.
"I don't know what The University is planning on doing with that wall," Black said. "But an element of graffiti is that it's not permanent, and artists have to come to terms with that."
University students, though, are showing appreciation for work that some believe is reshaping The University's social structure and redefining it as an urban campus.
Joshua Francisco, a senior computer science major from Murray State University in Kentucky, is taking classes at The U of M for the summer. He was sitting in the bookstore early Wednesday afternoon and commented on the graffiti project that he said is helping bring more excitement to the campus.
"Usually when construction occurs on campus, you just see a brick wall for eight to 10 months," he said as he looked behind him through the glass window and out onto the campus where the graffiti is visible. "Graffiti sometimes gets a negative image, as far as people tagging buildings, but this is an outlet for people to express themselves."
Sean Upshaw, a senior biology major, noticed the regional diversity in the work after having walked past it several times from the library this summer.
"From the looks of it, the styles are from different areas of the country -east and west most likely," Upshaw said. "I saw them a few weeks ago doing it out here in the heat, so I give them props for doing something like that."
