How a Downtown Alley Became a Canvas for 200 Years of History
Episcopalian Bishop Dorothy Sanders Wells admits she met the idea with a bit of skepticism: turning her Diocese's 200-year history into a public mural on a downtown Jackson alley wall.
What Downtown Jackson Partners and muralist Andrea Kostyal built together now tells that story to anyone walking by.
When Downtown Jackson Partners first approached the Episcopal Diocese of Mississippi about turning its history into a public mural, Bishop Dorothy Sanders Wells didn't say yes right away. She met the invitation, she has said, "with a bit of skepticism."
That hesitation makes sense. A 200-year-old religious institution doesn't often hand its story over to a downtown alley wall. But Downtown Jackson Partners had a specific site in mind: the south wall of the Allin House, where the Diocese is located, running the full length of the alley behind it — part of the organization's growing Alley Gallery public art initiative. The pitch wasn't just wall space. It was a chance to put the Diocese's history in a place anyone walking downtown would see it.
The two organizations built the project together, with the Community Foundation for Mississippi helping fund the work and bring it to life.
"Public art helps tell a community's story, creates a sense of place and transforms everyday spaces into destinations for residents and visitors alike," said Liz Brister, president of Downtown Jackson Partners. What resulted is a large-scale painting tracing the Diocese's 200-year history, its role shaping the state and its ministry with and among white and Black Mississippians, arriving as the nation marks its semiquincentennial.
The artist behind the wall
Downtown Jackson Partners brought in Mississippi muralist Andrea Kostyal, an urban landscape painter whose prior mural work in Vicksburg was part of what made her the right fit for this project
"I created this mural to promote inclusion, collective memory and shared civic identity — to bring people together in spirit, to illustrate the concept of love and acceptance, and to unite people across historical and social boundaries," Kostyal said. "For me, as an urban landscape painter, downtown Jackson was such a beautiful place to work. I appreciate everyone in the community who helped me and took such good care of me."
For Bishop Wells, the finished piece justified the risk of saying yes. "This mural tells an important story about who we are as a Diocese and how our faith has called us to serve the people of Mississippi for 200 years now," she said. "It is a gift not only to our congregants, but to all who call Mississippi home."
Two hundred years of Diocese history now run the length of an alley, not tucked inside a sanctuary, but out where anyone downtown can walk past it, stop, and read the story on the wall.
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Downtown Jackson Partners210 East Capitol Street, Suite 210
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