Recently completed murals in downtown Seattle are part of an effort to beautify the city ahead of next year's World Cup matches, and to get visitors and residents exploring different areas.
Seattle FIFA World Cup 2026, the local organizing committee, commissioned the paintings located on Spring Street and 5th Avenue and Western Avenue near Union Street. These murals aren't related to soccer, instead they touch on themes such as equality, human rights and environmental sustainability.
The mural that faces the Seattle Central Library is called United Currents. It's of a blue wave with a large golden sun at the center of the painting. Green leaves are spilling out of the wave and birds can be seen flying in the background.
Seattle artist Leo Shallat said the contemporary piece celebrates they city's counterculture legacy.
"The theme of counterculture resonates deeply with me and I hope it appropriately honors the different movements that have taken root here in Seattle and continue to flourish to this day," he said in a news release.
The other mural is titled United by Nature. It's of a male and female figure floating 17 stories above Western Avenue, and can be seen from ferries coming to dock in the Port of Seattle. The painting is black and white, with a blue lightning-like dash.
Street artist INO created this piece, which celebrates Seattle's commitment to human rights and its legacy of justice.
These paintings are the first installments in a series of public art expected to pop up around the city leading up to next year's World Cup matches. Future paintings will touch on themes such as culture and community.
Seattle will host six World Cup matches at Lumen Field. That includes a match on Juneteenth and a match the local organizing committee is connecting to Pride month.
That plays into how the themes for these murals were chosen. Peter Tomozawa, CEO of the Seattle World Cup organizing committee, said the paintings showcase what Seattle and the state of Washington are all about.
"We sold FIFA and the World Cup organizing people on the idea that our region and our city is a city of inclusion. They rewarded us with the two premier dates to celebrate the World Cup on," he said.
More than 750,000 people are expected to come to the matches in the Seattle area in June of next year. Tomozawa said an app will be released in the spring to guide residents and visitors to the different paintings throughout the city. Each site visited, will earn a user points that they can redeem for World Cup swag.
"Our attempt is really to draw and reinvigorate and to create activation around our city core," he said. "We want to celebrate Westlake Park. We want to celebrate our waterfront — that's an obvious one — but we want people to move around our city."
Tomozawa said he hopes the murals will last well beyond the World Cup.
"Our focus is not just on the 39 days in the summer of 2026, which will be incredible and will be awesome, but what we leave behind for the next 20 years," he said.
Tomozawa said the local committee has reserved 52 columns below the Seattle Monorail and more paintings will be announced at a later time. But, he said, the scale and quality of work with these first two murals are "just the tip of the iceberg" of things to come for the region.
