Allistair Mallillin dipped his brush in brown paint and then began carefully filling in a space on a mural near a homeless encampment near Interstate 880 in Oakland.
Mallillin and about a dozen other community members were working Saturday on a mural with the theme "Oakland for all of us."
Former KPIX anchor Dana King donated the space, an exterior wall measuring 70 feet by 20 feet, of the building she owns at East 12th Street and 13th Avenue.
The mural blooms with vivid orange poppies representing California's indigenous people, calla lilies representing Mexican culture and Chinese blossoms. It also prominently features the name of Nikki Fortunato Bas, who is running for the City Council in District 2, where the mural is located.
King said she donated the wall in hopes of bringing the community together around political change.
"Oakland is in the midst of an economic renaissance, but so many are being left behind," said King, who is a sculptor and rents the building as live-work space to five other artists at below-market-rate rents.
Oakland muralist Leslie Lopez spray-painted the outlines of the mural by hand and is overseeing East Lake neighbors in filling it in.
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"I think it's beautiful, and a way to unite the community," said Khalayla Thompson of Oakland as she worked on a section of the mural. "The colors are coming together well."
